My first year at Hogwarts is my Fifth
by Lilith Osborn
Summary: Her parents are dead.The neighbor who hates her:a famous wizard. Whisked off to Hogwarts, Emily begins to learn about the family she never knew.As students struggles under Umbridge's reign,Emily finds love,friendship and danger that chills her to the core
1. Disaster

**This is my first Harry Potter Fanfiction! I hope you like it!**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

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Harry walked into the house on Privet Drive, knowing he was late for dinner and knowing he would be punished for it. He heard voices from the kitchen area and a laugh that wasn't familiar. The Dursleys probably had some of their stuck up friends over again, he decided he wouldn't intrude when suddenly the voices became louder and his Aunt, Uncle, cousin Dudley and a girl he didn't recognize came around the corner before harry could run up the stairs.

"Oh, Harry! Your home!" said his Aunt Petunia in a pleasant voice.

_That's strange_ he thought _Aunt Petunia isn't pleasant, even when she has company._

"We were wondering where you were." she added though Harry knew she was lying. The strawberry blondegirl who was with them was wearing a white floral dress that's green brought out her dark, somehow familiar eyes. She had a kind smile on her face and was standing next to Dudley, who was actually smiling. What was going on? Harry wondered.

"Oh, Harry, this is Emily, she just moved into that house a block over, you know the one, don't you?"

"Yes." a bit hesitantly, wondering what had put his relatives into such a happy mood. Lately the Dursleys had been far from happy and Harry had expected to be sent to his room without supper, not greeted by a stranger and his family who seemed to have forgotten who he was and that he wasn't as normal as they wanted him to be.

"Well Dudley ran into her the other day and invited her to dinner, Emily, this is our nephew Harry, he is Dudley's cousin."

"Hello." she smiled again. Well she seemed nice except for the fact that she seemed to be Dudley's girlfriend. Who would want to go out with DUDLEY of all people? Harry thought as he looked from Dudley's goofy smiling face to the body that was so large that it took up almost the whole hallway, causing the others to stand in front of or behind him.

He reeked the words "She's mine".

"Well I should be going so that my parents don't get worried." she said, bringing them back to why they were in this crowded hall in the first place.

"Please feel free to stop in again sometime dear, we loved having you." said Mrs. Dursley.

"Thank you." she said as she quickly left. Dudley looked as if he would have followed her if she hadn't run so fast. His waddle wasn't very fast.

The Dursleys made their way back into the living room and sat down. "Such a nice girl." Mrs. Dursley and Mr. Dursley agreed. Dudley seemed to be in a trance for a moment and then turned on the telly to watch one of his favorite shows.

For a moment Harry played with the thought that she could be hypnotising his family into happiness. He held back a chuckle and went upstairs to check on Hedwig.

* * *

Harry was walking away from a confrontation with his Aunt and Uncle. He had heard a loud popping noise that he had pulled his wand out to, his Uncle finding him and once again freaking out. So now Harry was walking toward the park that was a couple blocks from the house. When he got there he sat on the only swing that Dudley and his friends hadn't broken. 

Harry remembered seeing Dudley and Emily at the park and heard her ask him why the swings were broken. He said he wasn't sure who had been breaking them but he started naming some of his "friends" names, while of course leaving himself out, saying they had been causing mischief.

Harry wasn't even sure that Dudley knew what mischief meant.

He also knew that the only reason Dudley had friends was because they had kissed up to him enough for him not to use them as punching bags. His favorite punching bag had been Harry, though since he had been to Hogwarts Dudley had begun to use smaller boys in the neighborhood more and more.

Harry had begun to tease Dudley about Emily, knowing Dudley had left that swing unbroken for Emily's enjoyment.

"Is wittle Dudders in wuv?" asked Harry mockingly once, ducking a swing that Dudley threw his way.

Harry sometimes stood in amazement at how _daft _this girl could be. She seemed to believe everything that Dudley told her, Harry shook his head slowly, wondering how anyone could possibly be able to_ kiss_ his cousin (he assumed that's what they did in the hours they were gone from the house) and he also wondered if he was losing his mind, seeing as the only things he seemed to do these days was search for news on the wizarding world and puzzle over his cousin's relationship.

He sighed as he thought of the wizarding world. The only connection he had between here and there were his friends Ron and Hermione and his godfather Sirius, and all he got out of there letters was more frustration. From what he read it seemed like Ron and Hermione were together, and Sirius was always telling him to lay low and such. The Daily Prophet hadn't seemed to notice (or decided not to) anything different, like how 'natural' disasters were occuring in odd places, though he knew their excuse was probably that they were Muggle problems and wasn't for them to worry about.

Harry's frustration kept growing, knowing that he of all people should be informed on what was going on. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Dudley and his friends as they seperated for the evening, probably having just beaten up another ten year old.

In his mind, Harry dared Dudley and them to come over and pick a fight with him, being able to take out his anger on his cousin would be nice, though it would also be fun to watch him squirm under the watch of his friends, afraid to hit Harry but afraid to lose face as well.

When Harry saw that Dudley was walking home alone Harry ran up to join him, to Dudley's dismay.

"Whadoyouwant?" asked Dudley.

"Awww Dudders, were you hoping I was Emily?"

"Don't call me that, and what if I did? She's a lot better looking than you."

"Dudley! I am shocked." he said mockingly.

"Your just jealous."

"No offense to her but I'm not real keen on going out with anyone who has kissed you."

Dudley paused. "You're just jealous I can get a girl."

"Who says I can't?" said Harry, not sure where this was going.

"I hear you at night, calling out for your boyfriend. Oh, no not Cedric! Please don't hurt him!" Dudley mimicked.

"Shut up." said Harry in a low tone. So he had been talking in his sleep? He had been having nightmares lately, but having Dudley tease him about something like this he didn't want to deal with.

Dudley continued teasing until Harry yelled " SHUT UP!" and pulled out his wand.

"P-put that a-away. Y-your not allowed to used it outside of that school of yours. You'll get kicked out."

Harry ignored him, continuing his threat, when suddenly mist surrounded the two and Harry looked around, trying to see through the darkness. Dudley punched him, thinking the fog was Harry's doing and trying to get him to stop.

Harry fumbled for his wand and realized that the darkness was being caused by dementors that were supposed to be guarding Azkaban.

Harry found his wand and tried to think of a happy thought that would help him conjure his patronus. He tried to fight off the darkness but as a dementor came into view and began reaching for its hood, he began to panic.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM" he yelled, silver light streaming from his wand tip, forming into a stag. he stood up and chased off the two dementors, sending them into the night. Harry and Dudley were in a dark alley between his street and another, light landing on the pavement from a nearby streetlamp. Harry looked around, making sure all of the dementors were gone, when he saw Emily on the opposite side of the street, staring straight at Harry.

"Oh no." Harry thought. A Muggle had seen him preform magic. But it was self defense, he assured himself. He wouldn't be in trouble if the magic was needed. Before he had called out her name she was running down the street toward her house, glancing back to see if he was following her as he called her name over and over again until he couldn't see her around the edge of the building that formed part of the alley.

As he supported Dudley, who was grey faced, looked nauseated and kept muttering things, Mrs. Figg came around the corner of the alley, hair askew and carrying a bag of cat food and a slipper that matched the one on her foot.

Mrs. Figg nearly had a heart attack and was rambling and ranting about someone named Mundungus Fletcher and Squibs.

"Your a Squib?" Harry asked.

"Keep your wand out! Yes, I'm a Squib."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"There was no reason to, Harry."

"Not even to start a conversation? Didn't you know I was a wizard?"

"Well, yes, but Dumbledore thought it best not to tell you."

She was looking frantically around them as Harry, with Dudley's weight made their way home to where Mr. and Mrs, Dursley swept Dudley away, shouting at Harry to tell them what he had done.

Harry gave up trying to explain when an owl came with a letter from the Ministery. He checked it, expecting to see the usual letter and found that he was going to have his wand taken away! He was beginning to panic when another owl came from Sirius with a letter telling him not to give up his wand.

This was going to be a long night.

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Emily Smith had lived in England when she was a baby when her parents had moved to America. Then recently after watching her parents whisper for weeks, her dad announced that they would be moving back to England because of a job he had gotten. Emily hadn't been too happy to leave friends and the house they had had but thought it would be interesting to move to a new country that she hadn't been to in years. 

They moved before her fifteenth birthday, and when it came they celebrated it among the boxes of their new house. A few weeks later Emily decided to take a walk to look around the new neighborhood and ran into a large boy her age who said his name was Dudley Dursley. They talked for a while, though Emily was trying to be polite she had a hunch that this boy had been one of the ones who had turned over their trash bins on Emily's lawn a couple days before. This boy showed an interest in her that was not mutual so when he asked if she would come meet his family for dinner, she went inside to ask her mom, hoping that she would say no.

"I think you should go, you could meet some new people, maybe make some friends."

"I'm not sure that-"

"Your going." Emily had been about to say 'I'm not sure that he wants to be 'friends' but just went outside and said it was fine with her mom if she went. Emily got the address and went to the dinner a few days later, meeting the family that seemed to be thinking the same word as their son : girlfriend.

It bothered her that Dudley had the wrong idea. He seemed to think that she was already his girlfriend and treated her like one. She found that she couldn't talk to her ten year old neighbor without him shifting uneasily and glancing up and down the street. Emily was furious when the day after Dudley saw her talking to the boy, he was bruised like something seven times his size had sat on him. She refused to answer any of Dudley's calls to the house (not that she had any desire to before, now she just had more motivaion to be rude) and didn't go into the front yard so that she wouldn't have to talk to him if he came by. This went on for about a week until her mother pushed her outside of the house.

"Your almost fifteen, stop throwing a tantrum." she said before shutting the door. Emily heard the click of the lock but went to rattle the door anyway. To her surprise the door opened and her mother turned around with a surprised and horrified look on her face and came back to shut the door. Dudley called her to the sidewalk, and Emily ended up at the park trying to make conversation and ending up talking about the swings. She watched as Dudley lied through his teeth. She had seen him brake these swings and yet he stood there and said he wasn't sure who had done it!

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Emily Smith ran home, away from Harry, away from where those people wearing black cloaks had been, away from the silver stag that seemed to be made of light, but she was also running away from memories. 

Faces flashed in front of her as she ran home. A black haired man with dark eyes, a giant man covered in fur. These people haunted her dreams, nameless, faceless, only a few features shone. She had been fighting them back for so long, not telling her parents for fear they would think it was some mental disprder. Her parents worried so much.

Now Emily was running from Dudley and his cousin, who she hadn't really talked to. She was running from Harry, who had yelled something at those cloaked people as he held a stick. She was confused at the scene that she had seen but the stick Harry had been holding, the words he had yelled, she pictured these people in her mind hold similar sticks, though the man covered in fur was holding an umbrella for some reason. She was so confused. Why did the sticks remind her of umbrellas!?

She reached her front door and flew through it, then froze, staring at a group of people in her house. They were in strange clothing, different colors of clothes with capes and hats. She stared at them, there were so many. They moved around her house, some inspecting things in the livingroom, other doing the same in the kitchen. Some people went up and down the stairs,a man looked behind a painting on the wall.

What was going on?

A man saw her and walked up to her. He was taller than her and was balding, the remaining hair a bright red.

"Emily Smith?"

"Yes..." she answered uncertainly.

"My name is Arthur Weasley, I am with the Ministery of Magic." he informed her.

"The what? Why are you people in my house?" not feeling the least bit informed.

"Emily, will you come with me?" he asked.

"Um, where to? I don't know you so I will need to ask my parents."

"That won't be necessary." he said solemnly.

"Why not? she asked, wondering why her overly protective parents didn't need to be informed of her leaving.

"Emily your parents were killed."

She didn't say anything, just stared.

"We aren't sure who did it or why, but you may not be safe here. That is why you are coming with me. I am going to take you to my house and explain some things to you."

Emily still didn't say anything. She just let Mr. Weasley he gently lead her outside.

"Emily, please, if you will, hold onto my arm tightly."

Emily wasn't sure how tightly she would be able to hold on, she felt faint. She also wasn't sure why she would need to hold on. Before Mr. Weasley could Apparate though, the girl fainted.

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next chapter : At that moment the door opened rather dramatically, slamming and causing a gust of wind and three procurred wands. Emily jumped and was scared, confused.


	2. A Lot of Information

When Emily woke up she wasn't sure where she was. She seemed to be on a cot in a kitchen/livingroom area of a house. There was a pot cooking something on the stove and a few people sitting at the table, speaking in low voices. One of them was the man who had called himself Arthur Weasley, there was also a short red haired woman and a man with a long beard and moon shaped spectacles. The red haired woman looked over at Emily, smiled, and came quickly over.

"Nice to see you up deary." she smiled softly.

"Where am I?" Emily asked groggily. 

"Your at our house, my name is Mrs. Weasley, don't worry, your safe, see, Dumbledore is here."

The man with the half moon spectacles gazed over them at her, smiling kindly.

"Who?" asked Emily. Who were these people?

"Why don't you join us Emily and I can explain what is going on." said the man named Dumbledore.

Emily slowly sat up and walked groggily over to the table.

"Would you like something to eat dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"No thank you." but her stomach growled telling her and the people in the room that it had not eaten since lunch. "Um, maybe I will."

Mrs. Weasley put a bowl of soup from the pot on the stove, bread, and a cup of hot chocolate in front of Emily, who ate slowly but gratefully.

She felt awkward sitting there, they had stopped talking and were studying her.

"These are extraordinary muggle clothes Emily, where did you get them?"

Emily gave him a confused look and followed his gaze to her jeans and t shirt "Um...my mum picked them up somewhere."

Emily paused, staring at her soup. Tears stung her eyes as she remembered what Mr. Weasley had said about her parents. She set down her spoon and put her hands in her lap.

"Oh, Emily," Mr. Weasley said, horrified. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

But Mrs. Weasley had come up behind her and embraced her. Emily thought it weird that this woman she didn't know was hugging her, but right now she didn't care. There didn't seem to be anyone else there to try to comfort her and Mrs. Weasley's kindness helped her hold back her tears.

"Emily." said Dumbledore. "there is a lot that I need to be telling you."

Emily looked up at him, wondering what he could have to say.

"What are muggles?" she said, thinking about Mr. Weasley talking about her clothes.

Mrs. Weasley pulled back from the embrace in surprise, causing Emily to turn around and look at her surprised expression. Mr. Weasley, who was sitting next to her, looked surprised as well. Emily had the feeling that there was something she didn't understand going through these people's minds. She looked to Dumbledore and saw that his expression hadn't changed.

"Dumbledore I thought that she was-"

"She is." Dumbledore answered calmly Mr. Weasley's question before he had finished it.

"But her parent's were-- does that mean she's a---"

"It seems that everyone is a bit confuse right now."

Mrs. Weasley sat down next to Emily and the three looked across the table at Dumbledore. Emily had the feeling that this happened a lot, people looking to this man for guidance. He seemed nice like a grandfather but without being feeble. His age seemed to add to his power and strength.

"It begins with a man named Sirius Black. Emily when you were a baby this man was accused of murdering more than ten people. He was sent to Azkaban, a prison. This man." he paused. "Was a wizard."

The Weasleys gasped. "You mean she didn't know?" they said. Dumbledore quieted them with a hand. "Like I said, everyone is a bit confused right now."

Emily paused. That name seemed familiar some how. She remembered hearing about an escaped prisoner named Siruis Black a couple years ago. "But he escaped." she said confused. "wait." she realized something "Did you just say he was a wizard?"

Dumbledore nodded. "But that--" she stopped. Harry. She remembered the seen. He had had that stick. That _wand._ He had chased off those men that were attacking him and his cousin.

Dumbledore watched as the girl looked from him, to her soup, to the door, and then to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Because I am a wizard also." he said it so calmly with that gaze. She looked at the Weasleys again.

"Are you?"

"Yes." they both said.

Emily was looking at her soup again. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because that man." Dumbledore paused again. "Is your father."

No one had expected this. The Weasley's mouths dropped open.

"You mean Sirius---"

"But he never--"

Emily had nearly dropped through the bench along with her mouth. She stared at Dumbledore before getting the ability of speech back.

"That can't be." she said.

"Why not? Weren't you adopted?"

"Yes but my last name wasn't Black. My last name was---"

"Johnson, I know."

"But" she was stunned at him knowing her last name. "Even if I was this man's daughter, why would it matter?"

"Because it makes you a witch."

"What?"

"You're a witch."

"No I'm not." she said, denying it. "I don't have a wand, I don't have magical powers."

"Yes you do, though a wand would need to be purchased, you have magical powers. Has anything happen to you that you couldn't quite explain?"

Emily paused, part of her didn't want him to be right. "When I was about eleven." she remembered having twenty birds, owls, following her where ever she went. "And after things happened more often. Once my neighborhood had a power surge when my mother and me were pretending to sing opera." She had joked, saying that her singing abilities had caused it, but her mom hadn't even joked around, just told her to go to her room and then had an argument with her dad.

Memories came back to her, things she couldn't explain started to make sense.

"Prove it to me." she said, even though she was already convinced. At that moment however Mrs. Weasley had pulled out a stick from her sleeve--a _wand_ from her sleeve, flicked it, and a broom and dust pan came out of a cupboard and began cleaning.

"Oh--oops--sorry dear."

Dumbledore continued. "You are a witch, descended from wizards and witches from both your mother and father's side of the family."

"Who was my mother?"

"That will come at a later time."

"Uh..." Emily realized something. "I don't have to meet him, do I?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Emily he was proven innocent."

"Oh."

"But if you still don't feel like meeting him yet, that is fine, I think he will understand."

Emily nodded. She couldn't remember what he looked like, she hadn't seen a picture of him when he escaped.

"Why did it take so long for him to escape if he is a wizard?"

"He was in Azkaban, a wizard jail, his wand was taken away."

They sat there, Dumbledore answering questions that Emily had, until Dumbledore said he would have to go.

"Where am I going to be staying?"

"Well from what we know we think that you may be in danger, therefore we are going to give you 'bodyguards' as you might call them, you will be staying with them until you come to Hogwarts."

"Really Dumbledore, bodyguards, do you think that that is necessary?" insisted Mrs. Weasley.

"At times like this Molly, yes, I think it is."

"I don't see why, she is only a child. I mean Harry, I understand but--"

"Harry? You don't mean Harry Potter, do you?" Emily interrupted.

"Yes." Dumbledore said.

"You lived near him, didn't you?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Yes. He is a wizard too, isn't he."

"Yes, how did you--" Mrs. Weasley began.

Emily jumped up "he was being attacked! Why would he have to use magic if he had a bodyguard?"

"Because his bodyguard is a no good, lazy, cheating--"

"Molly," Dumbledore said warningly.

"But he could have gotten hurt! And now there is this court date!" she ranted, starting to get hysterical.

"Why would he need a court date?" Emily asked.

"Because underage wizards aren't supposed to use magic outside of school." Mr. Weasley informed her, much more calm than his wife.

"How do wizards do court dates?"

"The same way muggles--non magical people-- do it, really, witnesses and judges."

"Do I need to witness?"

"At this point" Dumbledore answered before Mrs. Weasley. "I think it would be best if you did not go into public too often, it may not be a good idea."

"Who will be her bodyguard?" Molly asked.

"Bodyguards." he corrected her.

"Bodyguards! Is that really necessary!?" she yelled, exasperated.

"She has no knowledge of how to use her magic, I think there is quite enough need for two bodyguards." he said. "Now I think we should get some sleep." Dumbledore looked sternly at the two red heads and then kindly to Emily.

At that moment the door opened rather dramatically, slamming and causing a gust of wind and three procured wands. Emily jumped and was scared, confused. She turned and saw two identical red headed boys inside of the doorway.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY WHAT WERE YOU _THINKING_?" Everyone cringed as Mrs.Weasley yelled at her two sons.

"Oh come now mum, how do you know it's us?" asked one.

"BECAUSE ONLY YOU TWO WOULD DO SOMETHING SO _STUPID_!" She stomped over and grabbed each twins' ear, causing them to bend down in pain and follow her.

"Oh come on mum, your embarrassing us in front of our charge."

"I don't know why Dumbledore even chose you two I mean out of all the irresponsible things you do, nearly giving me a heart attack."

"They can go with her to school and people won't suspect anything, Fred and George are also talented with there spells and are capable, _I _think." Dumbledore said. "Well I am going to go to bed, goodnight."

Emily stood up in front of the twins and found that they were both much taller than her. Mr.Weasley convinced Mrs. Weasley to go to let the three of them get acquainted which she agreed to, only when Fred and George promised to be responsible.

Though she didn't say it, Mrs. Weasley trusted them, thinking that they would do a good job and not endanger the young girl or pull any pranks on her. She was now practically an orphan and they both knew that so she doubted they would be heartless enough to pull a cruel prank on her.

When the three were left alone Emily realized how strange it was to be standing there with these two boys. She didn't know them and though she wasn't sure why, her parents had barely ever let her associate most boys let alone leave her alone with them.

"Hi, I'm Fred." Fred smiled and held out his hand to Emily, who jumped about a foot in the air before slowly and gently shaking his hand, smiling nervously.

"And I'm George." she shook the other boy's hand. The twins spent the next few minutes trying to get her to smile. They didn't say it but they had the feeling that she was afraid of them, something they didn't like. She smiled nervously and soon was laughing with them as they told her a bit about themselves.

"And when we go out in public you'll have to wear an invisibility cloak so that you can't be seen." said Fred, informing her of their plans for protecting her.

"Oh?" she said a bit curious. "I'm still trying to get used to the fact that this whole other world exists, don't go shoving me into your hat just yet." she smiled.

They both gave her confused looks and she laughed and tried to explain about magicians and their hats.

This was going to be interesting.

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Nextchapter: Harry's head hit something soft. He was wondering what it was when he realized he was starring at a floating head of his neighbor and Dudley's girlfriend


	3. Stumbling Upon A Secret

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* * *

Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express happily, glad that he was done with his trial and all of the horror that had unfolded. Sure people thought he was a crazy delinquent who was constantly trying to get attention but that was okay right now because he could be with his friends and not have to worry.

This was what he was trying to convince himself of.

He found Fred and George in an almost full compartment and sat on the floor. Fred and George were acting a bit weird, they had one of their pranks going in the seat in between them, a floating briefcase that no one was sure did anything except float but they wouldn't move it or let anyone sit there.

Every once in a while the briefcase would move and Fred nearly tackled Ginny when she reached out her hand to try to find out what it did.

"You can't go around and mess with their inventions Ginny, have you learned nothing?" asked Ron to the shocked Ginny who pulled her hand away from Fred.

"It could blow up or something." he warned.

"Whatever." she said cooly and looked out the window with her arms folded.

For a moment there was a bad feeling in the room like when Mrs.Weasley was yelling at someone. Then Trevor made a bound and landed on the suitcase, causing it to jostle and fall to the floor. Fred mumbled something and the suitcase began to float up and back in between the twins but not before Harry made a dive for the seat.

He wasn't sure why he did it except to get on the nerves of Fred and George by taking their precious invention's spot. Harry wasn't in the mood to sit on the floor anyway, after all he had gone through that summer one would think to offer him their seat!

George dove in front of him but missed and kept falling until he was on his knees on the floor. Harry flew over him and turned so that he landed on his back. Something happened with Fred's wand and smoke filled the compartment, causing people to cough and run out into the hall as this happened.

The briefcase had fallen to the floor with George and Harry's head hit something soft. He was wondering what it was when the smoke cleared and he realized he was starring at the floating head of his neighbor, Dudley's girlfriend (Dudley was in denial saying that they hadn't broken up but she had just gone on vacation and hadn't been around.) More of her began to appear as an invisiblity cloak fell off of her and into her lap, where Harry's head still lay as he starred in absolute astonishment.

She was smiling at him and giggling pleasantly when he mentally shook himself and sat up, still starring. He quickly forgot the soreness on his head from it hitting her knee, he was trying to figure out what was going on.

"G-g-george, Fred, tell me this isn't what I think it is." Harry stuttered.

"That depends." Fred said, turning around and getting rid of the smoke.

"Depends?"

"On how much you know." George said easily.

"Or what you think it is." Fred added.

"Or both." they said, nodding to each other. Harry got the feeling that they did this to teachers _way_ too often. They were good at it and it was annoying, you could feel yourself being sapped but no matter how hard you tried to prevent them from getting their way they would snatch it out from under you, leaving you dazed, confused, and annoyed.

"Hi Harry." smiled Emily. "Don't worry, this may look wierd but I'm not going to bite you." she laughed. She had taken off the invisibility cloak and gave him a reassuring look.

"H-Hi Emily." he gulped. "Emily, what have these two done to you? They haven't hurt you have they? O-or kidnapped you or anything?"

"Now just a minute mate!" Fred yelled, indignant.

"What do you think we are? We don't kidnap, especially not strange girls."George joined in, he realized that people outside might hear him and said more quietly. "And we're definitely not going to hurt her. Whaddo you think we are anyway!?"

"Don't worry I put some charms up, we have a while." Fred said to George, indictating the door. He plopped down next to Emily and pulled her into a noogy. "We've become mates with this one, and besides if they thought we would try something they could have gotten someone else for this."

Emily pulled away from him with a smile and looked back to Harry, her face showing that she was worried. "Really Harry they haven't done anything but babysit me, you don't have to look so shocked."

"Tell me you two aren't trying to sneak a muggle into Hogwarts, please tell me I am napping." he pointed without looking to the spot he had been sitting at on the floor.

"We're not trying to sneak a muggle into Hogwarts, Harry."

"I'm a" Emily paused, trying to get used to the words. "witch."

"_WHAT_?" They all were thinking that Harry didn't take news very well. "YOU'RE A WITCH AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?"

"Well I didn't know." Emily said a bit scared and confused by his yelling. "I didn't know you were a wizard before." she paused and looked down at the cloak on the ground. "I didn't know a lot of things."

"What? Before what?" he was confused.

Fred took over for her saying. "She didn't know that she was a witch, no one's too sure why she didn't know but Dumbledore decided to tell her the night she saw you fight those dementors."

Harry remembered that night, seeing her, seeing her run away. What had happened that made them tell her and not just erase her memory? What made them not tell her in the first place?

"And now we're taking her to Hogwarts for school, though see it was supposed to be a secret." Geogre said, glaring at Harry.

"Yeah thanks mate, it was going fine until you decided to play acrobat."

Harry was a bit miffed and said rather roughly, not looking at her."So are you going to hide her again?"

Emily's face showed offense by his tone. "I'm right here thanks." she said cooly. What was his problem? He sounded like he was talking about some object that was in the way.

"Oh shut up and get back under the cloak." Fred said trying to be serious. Emily glared at him, trying to be serious herself and shoved him with her shoulder and grabbed the cloak.

"See if I chose Griffindor after this abuse, I bet Slytherins would respect me." George and Fred rolled there eyes but seemed to look a bit worried. They didn't need her in Slytherin, those were the type of people they were trying to help her

"Ready you guys?" Fred asked, looking back to see that they were ready.

He waved his wand and let the group of people outside, in and they took their seats and talked until they had to change.

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So what do you think? Have any suggestions on pairings or events in the plot? Any questions because you are confused? Please review and tell me this and what you think, all you have to do is press that button!

Next chapter: Fred and George swung their wands over their heads and with loud cracks and pops creatures of different size and color began to appear and run to try to gnaw on people's socks (at least that is what the twins had told Emily).


	4. Making An Entrance

**I do not own Harry Potter. I own Emily though and this story woo hoo! jk**

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Harry plopped down on a bench at his house's table in the Great Hall, mouth watering at the thought of the delicious food that Hogwart's kitchen cooked up. He sat rather quietly, only returning greetings every once in a while, as the noise lowered to a hum and then became silence.

Dumbledore stood up and announced the entry of the first years, who filed in behind McGonagall looking pale and nauseas from fear, just how Harry had felt. Harry didn't pay much attention to the sorting or the Hat's song, but was lost in memories of his first year. The happiness of being away from the Dursleys, the fear of not being put into a house or being put into Slytherin, and the memories of carefree laughing with his friend.

These days, even when he laughed he wasn't truely happy.

Shadows darkened his thoughts, hollowed his laugh and made light conversation heavy and forced. He wondered if he was really doing any good to the Wizarding world. Maybe if he had stayed at the Dursley's, his uncle had found a way to escape the letters that pelted them wherever they went, the Wizarding world would be better. After all wasn't it his fault that Voldemort was back?

Harry remembered the scar that he had gotten when he was used for the renewal potion. If he hadn't been there, would Voldemort still be a spirit- or whatever he had been. The only other powerful enemy of his that Harry could think of was Dumbledore, and he doubted that Voldemort could have gotten ahold of him.

_That's because Dumbledore is one of the strongest wizards ever. Who're you kidding. You're just a kid that thinks because he got lucky he could do it again, oh, sorry that it was your_ responsibilty, _who were you kidding? You're just what_ The Daily Prophet _says you are. A wannabe who's fame went to their head. Their big, scarred he-_

It wasn't luck, and besides it isn't my fault that Voldemort keeps coming after me. He follows me and I defend myself, what else is there to do? No one else is doing it. Should I let Voldemort get away? Shouldn't I try to stop him?

But now he sounded like he was pleading with himself, pleading for a confirmation that he was right.

He came to himself as the last few names were called. When the last first year sat down everyone looked to Dumbledore, who they expected to stand up. But Dumbledore didn't stand up, instead he gazed at the doors to the Great Hall. Some people continued to look at Dumbledore, others looks from Dumbledore to the doors, trying to see what had caught his attention when suddenly--

BLACK, EMILY!

BOOM BOOM.

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The Weasley twins and their charge left the train and got into a carriage of their own, Emily trying to avoid looking at the horses that shocked her at first sight. They now stood outside of the Great Hall dressed in black robes and cloaks and not the normal Hogwarts apparel. 

The sorting hat and cheers could be heard through the doors. George listened to this as Fred gave Emily more instructions.

"Why do you guys have to be dramatic about _everything_. " Emily half whispered half yelled.

"Come now, you know you want to." Fred coaxed.

"This is totally irresponsible, people will know it's you." she rationalized.

"No they won't." he assured.

"YES, they will." she insisted. "This has Weasley twins written all over it!"

"Yeah but it's written in invisible ink love, no one can read it except those who are looking for it."

"EVERYONE WILL BE LOOKING FOR IT! Both Weasley twins absent from the start of term feast, _hm_ they couldn't possibly be doing what they do all the rest of the year." Emily had been informed about a lot of stuff ever since she met these two, but they were nice and Emily had always had a soft spot for funny trouble makers, so she couldn't get _too_ mad at them.

"True, but we're doing this anyway." he said, matter of factly.

"No I'm not." she refused to start her schooling with something as ridiculous as this.

"Emily, stop arguing, you're wasting time."

ARRRRRRRRG see if I wind up in Gryffindor after I glue you to the ceiling!" She threatened. The twins had also been teaching Emily spells, just like their mum had every night when people went to sleep. Fred and George had taught her some pranking spells when they had gotten bored while visiting her at the Weasley house, after all, there was only so much you could talk about before wanting to explode the watermelon in the garden from the bedroom window.

"See, that's exactly the kind of attitude that will get you into Gryffindor." Fred said cheerfully, pretending to wipe away a tear from his eye. "I'm so proud."

"Yeah, now we just have to get her to hate Malfoy and we'll be set!" said George who couldn't resist throwing in his two cents. "Oh! That's our cue!"

The twins and Emily pulled on their hoods and the twins stepped back.

"Three-" said one.

"Two-"

"One." Emily finished. The twins swung their wands and the doors to the great hall burst open, each one banging the walls with the force of a tripping elephant.

BOOM BOOM

Emily was standing in the Great Hall, all eyes on her. All of the _extremely _wide eyes. She took of her hood slowly and dramatically, a very forced, smug look on her face.

"Great," she thought sarcastically. "I am now possibly the most conceited person these people can think of. I think I'm becoming better at this first impression stuff."

She let her eyes travel over all of the tables from one side of the Great Hall to the other. She then began to walk to the high table where sat Dumbledore and who she assumed were the teachers. She walked not quickly and nervously, but calm and cooly. Fred and George were on either side of her a few steps behind, hoods over their faces as to not reveal themselves. As they walked they pointed their wands at people as if daring them to try something, one pale, blond boy that George shot purple sparks at actually fell off of his bench in surprise.

When they neared the high table Fred and George swung their wands over their heads and with loud cracks and pops creatures of different size and color began to apear and run to try to gnaw on people's socks (atleast that is what the twins had told Emily). Some of the animals had wings, others had four legs, some had strangely large noses and others had all of these. There was chaos and screams everywhere when subtly the twins waved their wands again and the creatures froze as if they had hit the pause button on the remote of the world.

Emily walked up and sat on the stool as the witch holding some parchment placed the hat on her head.

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Harry and everyone else in the Great Hall, turned as the giant doors swung open, revealing three people in long black cloaks and hoods. Harry wasn't the only one who readied their wand incase these intruders did anything. 

Harry glanced at Dumbledore, as did a lot of people, and saw that he was calm. This reminded them that they had him there, meaning there was little or nothing to worry about. But who were these people?

There were two hooded figures who, when the doors slammed open, were standing behind the doorway, wands drawn. The third figure was inbetween them with no wand visible.

The one in the middle lifted it's hand, moving the hood to reveal it's face and long strawberry blonde hair.

It was Emily.

Harry thought she looked smug and conceited, the black of her cloak bringing out the darkness of her eyes. A few other boys thought things similar, minus the criticism, she had managed to stun a few people even more than they already were. She began her walk that screamed "I'm cooler than you" with the other two cloaked people behind her. Harry assumed this was Fred and George and that she had convinced them to do this. He was forming an opinion of her that wasn't entirely accurate or fair but he didn't care at the moment.

The twins seemed to be trying to give some people a scare and Harry's hunch that it was the Weasley's was confirmed when one of them shot purple sparks at malfoy and he fell off of the bench. When the three finally reached the high table the twins turned around and waved their wands causing an assortment of creatures to appear with loud pops and cracks. There was yelling coming from some of the boys, most of the girls and all of the first years.

One grey furred, multicolor toothed, two toed beast came bounding for Harry but suddenly stopped in mid air, the twins having waved their wands unnoticed. Harry starred in surprise at the beast for a moment and then remembered who had caused this and what was happening, so he redirected his attention to the girl and boys who's fault this was.

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When the hat was placed on her head and a voice in Emily's ear said. 

"Hello there, wasn't expecting you, you're quite out of order you know."

"Sorry."

"It's quite all right, just thought you ought to know. Well you are a bit late aren't you?"

"Well I was told to come in after everyone was done." she thought.

"No no no, I don't mean tonight, I mean you should have come here when you were eleven, not almost sixteen."

"Oh, yes, well-"

"Anyway, do you know what house you would prefer to be in?"

"I suppose with my friends, um, what do you think?"

"Well let's see. You're intellect could put you in Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff with your loyalty. You seem to have the potential to be rather sly I see--"

"Me? Sly?"

"Slytherin, and then your courage."

"My courage?" she tried to think of a time she had been brave.

"Yes, it's in here, even if you don't know it. Gryffindor can help you develop it."

"Well," she said, trying to convince herself as much as the hat. "I think that out of all of those, I could become more intelligent next to the Gryffindors, I hear there is a girl who's really smart in there, my loyalty to my friends can grow if I am near them, I don't know if you have talked to the Weasley twins in a while but they have become quite sly, and-" she paused. Her? Courage? "If you don't mind, I want to be in-"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the sorting hat shouted and people at the Gryffindor table stood and cheered. Some were thinking "Oh, great" while others "We got her! YES!"

The three figures walked out of the Great Hall animals now animated again, but when the doors shut behind them the creatures disappeared without a trace of frayed sock or slobber covered student, as if they hadn't been there at all. Most were so stunned they did not notice the food appear on the golden platters

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**What do you think? Please tell me. Have a request for an event or pairing? Please ask me in a review.**

Next chapter: She began to sob and hiccough again, to which Fred pulled her into another hug. He made soft ' shushing ' noises like he had heard his mum do while comforting Ginny when she was a baby, and it seemed to help


	5. Crying

Ok, um, I hope you like it, please review if you think I should keep writing it or if you have any suggestions.

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Later that evening, when most people had gone up to their dormitories to get some sleep, Emily sat in the Gryffindor common room starring at the fire. In the past hour she had sat on the couch and decided she wasn't comfortable and moved to the floor, which was even more uncomfortable and then moved back onto the couch. She sat, knees pulled to her, dark eyes not focused on the fire but the movie reel of memories playing in her mind. 

She sat on a swing squealing with laughter as her father watched, her mother smiling at her from behind a video camera on her seventh birthday, her father helping her out of a tree when she was eleven, having gotten stuck.

All of these and more were sweeping over her. She had never been so far away from home, and she knew she couldn't go back. Her eyes had been watering her cheeks for hours now, they just kept coming. She ached with a pain that she couldn't see an end to. She just saw herself feeling like this day in and day out.

She didn't even completely understand what was going on. How had her parents died? Why? So many unanswered questions, not only about that but now about this whole new world that was surrounding her and swallowing her up. She felt so alone, no one understood, no one. If she went to someone, they couldn't help her, they couldn't possibly make her feel better, they couldn't stop the tears or the pain. No one, no one. She was now a no one. Another person in this giant castle that no one knew, no one cared to know. If she hadn't already met Fred, George and Harry then no one would know her or want to.

Fred and George were nice, but they didn't seem very serious. They seemed to always be about pranks, how could she try to talk to them? They wouldn't listen, they would just try to make her laugh, even if it was a laugh of hollow, fleeting happiness.

Harry hated her, she could see it in his eyes. On the train, after recovering from the surprise of seeing her, he had gone to indifference, a face trying to mask anger and embarrassment that she had caused him. She had caught a glimpse of him in the crowd during the sorting, as George called it, he had looked so accusing, like everything that was happening and everything that had happened were her fault. He couldn't know what had happened and blamed her, could he? She remembered that look and it made her wonder, was it her fault?

Someone coming down from the boys' dormitory made soft stepping noises. Someone besides Emily couldn't sleep. Emily didn't bother turning around, that would only show her tears and cause them to ask questions. Emily assumed that they had sat down as she tried to hold in her sobs. It didn't work and she let out a sob, then caught herself. She shook with sadness and the tears in her eyes filled again. Another sob escaped from her and this time the boy heard it.

" Emily? " someone whispered, standing so close she jumped in surprise. One of the twins was standing to her left by the arm of the couch, starring at her with worry.

" Fred. " she sobbed. She had learned to tell them apart during the summer. Fred came around and sat next to her, giving her a hug of comfort. Once again this affection that the Weasleys so often showed her, she didn't mind like she used to.

" Emily, what's the matter? " even though he could have guessed, he had thought it was strange that she hadn't cried yet over her parents and he knew keeping that all inside wasn't good. She seemed like one of those people that were hard to read, sometimes because they were acting happy to avoid questions, sometimes because they didn't show emotion very well. The eyes though, Fred could read people's eyes, and those dark eyes of hers had shown sadness that no one should have to keep inside.

Emily sobbed loudly and uncontrollably behind his arms, turning and resting her forehead on his shoulder. She was at the point of hysterically crying, no tears left, just sadness and sobs.

" Emily, why didn't you have us wait up with you? You shouldn't be down here alone, especially not in this state. " he said, pulling away to look at her puffy face that was contorted in despair.

" Fred it's all my fault isn't it? " she said between short breaths.

" Emily, breath, come on breath deeply, you're going to make yourself pass out. " he took a deep breath as an example and did that, with Emily trying to follow his example and breaking into sobs over and over again, until she was breathing a little more normally.

" Fred I feel like this is all my fault. " she said with another sob.

" What are you talking about Emily? "

" Well, " she said, moving to let his arms drop and sit next to him, looking at the fire/floor as he watched her face, trying to understand what she was going through. " It's like I can't just be sad, I feel guilty too but- -" she paused, trying to not let out a sob.

" Emily you know it's not your fault, no one blames you ."

She was quiet for a moment and then looked up and him, swallowing a sob down her sore throat. Suddenly tears came to her eyes again and they dropped quietly before she looked away and sobbed. " Why can't I believe that? " she asked no one in particular, just anyone who could answer.

She began to sob and hiccough again, to which Fred pulled her into another hug. He made soft ' shushing ' noises like he had heard his mum do while comforting Ginny when she was a baby, and it seemed to help, since Emily soon fell into the sleep that her tears brought her.

Fred wondered if he should try to take her to bed but decided it wasn't worth waking her again. As he went to sleep, arms still around Emily, he vaguely wondered, if this was what it was like when you had a baby, trying to comfort them in their tears, while another part of his brain said it didn't seem to matter much, because if it was then as soon as they stopped crying you had a wonderful content feeling that he knew you could only get from doing just that, which made it all worth it.

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Um, was it ok uh, at all? Please tell me in a review.


	6. The Fake Fakir

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please review if you like it!**

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When Fred woke up, Emily was gone. He looked around quickly, panicking a little before he realized that a noise had woken him up. He stood up and turned around to see two people lying tangled in uncomfortable looking positions at the bottom of the girl's dormitory stairs." A little help here Fred?" said the girl. 

"Hey mate! About time you woke up, we've been hollerin' at you for a good five minutes!" said his twin as Fred helped him untangle himself from Emily, who had been pinned and tangled by the stairs that had become a slide.

"What happened?" Fred asked, still tired, as the two straightened their uniforms.

They both began at the same time and interrupted each other through the story.

"I was coming down the stairs-" Claire started.

"And I decided to see if-"

"And suddenly I fall and start sliding down what had been-"

"She were to come sliding down the staircase and I was waiting for a-"

" I was so surprised I didn't scream and when I-"

"She came around the corner all of the sudden and-"

"Knocked into George and couldn't get up because the stairs had come back and we had managed--"

"Well, you know the rest." George said.

Fred tried to let his mind comprehend this and then threw his hands into the air "Whatever. You two going down to breakfast?"

"We're going down to _class_." corrected George.

"_WHAT_!? Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"We tried! Besides, when we were yelling for you it took you five minutes to get up, it's harder to do it when this one insists on waking you up all gently." he said, pointing at Emily who looked rather sheepish.

He was yelling this to Fred as he ran up the stairs to get changed.

"Listen Emily, you'll make a great mum someday, all nice, but us Weasley's have a mum who yells for us to get up, we learn how to block it out after a while." This made Emily smiled.

They waited the couple minutes for him Fred to come flying down the stairs again.

"Now I don't get any breakfast, oh, my stomach, I think it's trying to eat itself." he said, doubling over and clutching his stomach for dramatic affect.

"Here, I brought you some food." said Emily, pulling out some toast and sausage in a napkin.

"Emily! You're my new favorite person!" said Fred, hugging her and taking the food as they started toward the portrait hole.

"Hey I thought I was your favorite!" George protested, pretending to be hurt by the comment.

But as he said this Emily handed Fred some fruit and bacon from her bag, which shut George up. How was he supposed to compete with that? He dropped the pretending but changed the subject.

"So you know you're going to have some of your classes with us, right Emily?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You'll have things like Transfiguration and Potions with your year and Defense Against the Dark Arts with our's since you know most of those spells from us anyway."

"Oh yes, wonderful, I find out I'm a witch and you put me into a hard class where I'll get more homework." she said sarcastically. "And besides I don't think I'm ready for a class in a year higher than I should be, I mean I'm so far behind everyone else!"

"What other classes do you have?" Fred asked between bites.

"Um," she checked her schedule. " Divination, Charms, History of Magic-"

"Just be glad you don't have History of Magic with us." Fred said. "It's boring enough."

"You got anymore in there?" George asked while peering into her bookbag, his stomach beginning to feel hungry again.

"Hands off mate! You ate already!" yelled Fred, sheltering his food.

George was bent over Emily's bag curiously and she brought out some bacon for him too.

"Wow, you learn some food conjuring spell or something?" Fred teased.

"Um, no." said simply. "I don't know when lunch is. I didn't eat much for breakfast and I knew Fred would be hungry and I got some just in case you were." she shrugged her shoulders again, not sure why they found it so important. She didn't seem to understand how important these guys' stomachs were to them.

"So where are we going first?" said Fred, changing the subject.

"Divination." Emily read.

George groaned loudly but luckily didn't say anything else.

"Hello, you off to my class?" Said a woman with a misty voice and large glasses. She was covered in shawls and beads that carried the faint scent of minty lemon.

"Yes Professor Trelawny." answered Fred. George was trying to regain his composure.

"You will be joining us too Emily? I do believe I read just that in my tea leaves this morning." she smiled and said in her breathy voice.

"Or she read it on her class list." mumbled Fred to his twin. Emily, who had been surprised, smiled at his comment, though the Professor took it as admiration.

"Are you interested in the subject of Divination?" she asked Emily as they continued walking toward the class.

"Well it certainly seems interesting, I mean being able to tell the future, I just hope I'm not horrible at it." the girl admitted.

"Well we shall see if you have the Inner Eye." she said mysteriously. "I will see you in class dear, goodbye."

When Fred and George finally got Emily into the classroom (it took them awhile because Emily was afraid she would fall off of the ladder leading to the Divination classroom. George climbed up and then Emily did going _extremely _slowly with Fred still at the bottom promising to catch her if she fell.) they all sat down at the same table on cushions and waited for their eyes to adjust to the gloominess of the room.

With a small tinkling sound Professor Trelawny walked around the room giving her introductory speech (this being Fred, George and Emily's first year in Divination.) Emily looked rather interested and so did some other people in the classroom. Fred and George were whispering about one thing or another, waving there wands a few times and muttering to themselves. They had decided from the stories of Harry and Ron's experience that they didn't like this class.

Emily broke the trance that she was in and glanced over at them to see if they were as interested as her. She smiled, knowing they were probably doing something that had to do with their joke shop, which she knew just about as much about as anyone else, which was not much. She knew that they enchanted candy and objects to play pranks on people and that they were working on a whole line of candies that could make you look sick and faint and all sorts of things that would be enough to make any teacher or parent grimace. Of course, Emily also knew that she, like everyone else, hoped that she would not be on the receiving end of these marvelous inventions.

Emily turned her attention back to her teacher who was now giving instruction on their first assignment. As soon as everyone began to get up and get their cups and tea leaves, the twins looked up in surprise, looking around for some clue as to what they missed.

Emily smiled and laughed lightly, "We're doing our first um...thing" she said.

"Oh great, this is like the blind leading the blind."

But she pretended not to hear George's comment but instead went to get three cups and tea bags. She picked up a cup and reached for a second, knocking it slightly and causing it to fall. Her eyes grew wide and she caught the cup quickly before it smashed on the ground. The boy next to her was not so lucky and a shattering was heard next to her.

"Tis all right dear, just get another one." Professor Trelawny said to the round faced boy.

He went to begin picking up the pieces but they had been magicked away already. He stood up and turned around to get another cup, only to come face to face with a smiling Emily, who could tell even in the gloom that he was scarlet in the face. In her hand she had a tea cup for him.

"Hi, I'm Emily."she said, offering the cup to him.

"Hi, my name's Neville." he said taking it.

"What house are you in Neville?" she said trying to make a friend in the short time they had before the teacher would see them and send them back to their seats.

"Gryffindor."

"Really? Me too." she said, delighted and surprised.

"Yeah, I know." he said, remembering the sorting.

But before she could ask him to clarify, Professor Trelawny interrupted.

"Children, take your seats please, you can continue your small talk later."

They said goodbye and parted to their different tables.

"Ah, so nice to see young love." sighed the Professor mystically.

A noise told the class that Neville had just broken another cup while Emily made a small surprised noise, mouth hanging open. She found herself and said.

"Oh, no, you're wrong, we're not--"

"Ah, child, do not fear love, it is fated for you two to be together, it is written in your stars you know."

"But!"

"Now, everyone please open your books to page..." said the Professor, ignoring her further protests. Emily's mouth was hanging open again.

"Hey, your catching flies." said a familiar voice.

"Yeah, don't need to be so obvious with your doting Emily." said it's twin.

Emily turned and glared at the two. They were both wearing identical smiles on their identical faces as they teased her.

"Don't worry, we hear that many of her premonitions and predictions don't come true." assured George.

"More like all." corrected Fred.

"Who hired her anyway? Certainly not Dumble---dore is a great man!" George said with fake vigor.

Fred caught the hint and nodded his head quickly, knowing that she was right behind him.

Trelawny gave them a wary look and moved to the next table while Emily stifled her laughter and trying to hide her smile in her book bag as she "looked for a quill." They all began to work on their tea leaves, not seeing anything in particular, unless clouds and mounds of dirt counted. Professor Trelawny came up to George's cup and took it from him.

"Beware of trouble, rule breaking will lead to disaster." she said ominously.

"Bet you 50 galleons McGonagall paid her to say that." he whispered when she had moved to another table.

They had a good laugh during that class at how fake the predictions were, even Emily still wondered how Professor Trelawny could possibly know what her stars were if they had only just met, meaning she couldn't have checked the stars, and the teacher didn't know when her birthday was.

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**Thank you for reading, the next chapter should be here soon! Please review and tell me if it's any good!**


	7. Cause for Suspicious Glances

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

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Emily stood in Herbology, trying to wrap her mind around what she saw in front of her."Emily, are you ok?" asked the bushy haired brunette sitting next to her. 

"Perfectly fine Hermione, I'm just saying a prayer that she isn't going to make me go any nearer to that thing."

Hermione laughed. "It's only an Amaranth." she said, amused.

Emily attempted to mirror the laughter. "Hahahaha, you're joking right? _Only_? That thing is huge...and...purple...and it looks like it wants my firstborn child."

Hermione laughed again. "It's virtually harmless, trust me, we've worked with them before."

"Yeah, tell that to Neville."

"Oh-well...Neville...well just don't follow Neville's lead and you'll be fine."

"Because that's going to help me, hey Hermione I think it likes you, keep talking to it and maybe it'll stop eyeing my liver."

"Emily now you're just being ridiculous." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and spoke like a school teacher. "Come sit down and stop this foolishness."

Emily slowly crept forward. "Yes, ma'am..." she mumbled to herself.

Emily got to work, not taking her eyes off of the plant, afraid it might try to sneak up behind her. She was paired with Hermione because as soon as they had to get into a group of three, Harry grabbed the nearest people to him: the twin's younger brother Ron and a boy named Seamus Finnegan.

Hermione had been glad to be Emily's partner, as was Neville. He wasn't in their group for long though since the plant had somehow inhaled Neville's hat (Emily: Where'd it even go! It doesn't have a mouth!) Neville, in an attempt to get the hat back, had gotten his hands stuck inside the dreaded thing, which, when finally released, were covered in a deep red goo (Emily: AH! he's bleeding! he's bleeding! Someone get the doctor!) The liquid was actually the juice of the Amaranth but thanks to Emily's panicked words, Neville had fainted and been taken up to the Hospital Wing.

"I am way out of my league." Emily informed Hermione as they headed back up to the castle for lunch, hands covered in sticky red goo that was supposed to have disappeared by now. "No one ever told me that plants could be magical too." The harmless Amaranth had taken it's chance to strike when Emily had looked away for a second, one second she was shaving it's thick purple hair off, the next thing her hands were being digested.

"Oh don't worry, you'll get the hang of it." Hermione assured her, waving away the goo with her wand.

The rest of her classes didn't go too well either.

Potions was held in the dungeons with the Slytherins, which no one seemed to happy about. Emily was actually kind of interested in the subject, her head was buzzing with what she had learned in her previous classes and what she might learn in this one. That was, until she mixed up salamander's eyes with newt eggs.

So Emily sat in the Hospital wing, small cut under her eye and a stream of dragon snot trailing from between her toes and bellybutton, at least Madam Pomfrey _thought_ it was dragon snot. Emily was almost looking forward to recovering the rest of the day in a nice soft bed but as fate would have it she was released an hour later to go to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Fred and George had told her that she knew most of the spells...she knew quite a few actually, several different people had given her lessons all throughout the summer. What she hadn't realized was that there were so many spells. Some didn't seem to have much of a point really. Who wanted to make someone barf up snails or grow rabbit ears every time that got around food? It didn't seem to matter _why_ these spells were used, they just were and she was expected to learn them all and their counter curses in two years?

Emily knew she hadn't been placed in higher classes because she was smart, no, she was being babysat by the twins. It seemed strange though, hadn't she been told Hogwarts was the safest place of just about anywhere? Why did she have to follow around her bodyguards like a lost puppy if it was so safe? These thoughts made her appreciate the extra time with the twins, she felt safe, even if they could pull something on her at any moment.

The name of the class: Defense Against the Dark Arts, was rather misleading. Emily had thought she would learn to battle these "Dark Arts" but she found herself putting her wand away to read from a book the entire class period. She thought it was rather boring but figured it would get more interesting since she had heard such great stories about it over the summer.

"This is an outrage!" cried Fred as they left the classroom.

"This is a mockery!" George cried, slamming a fist into his palm indignantly.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, confused.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts means defending ourselves against the Dark Arts!"

"A book won't help us!"

They continued this ranting as they walked away from Emily towards their next class, leaving her to figure out which way to turn to find her last class of the day, Charms.

This class started off going surprisingly well. Professor Flitwick was very congenial and seemed excited at the thought of having a new student. He went through that year's introduction into charms and then set everyone into partners. Emily mentally crossed her fingers to be paired with Hermione.

"Emily, you can go over with Mr. Potter." Flitwick said to the young girl's dismay. She slowly turned her head to see Harry with a smile plastered across his face.

"Real convincing." she thought to herself. She smiled back though, uncertain. This was going to be like waltzing on eggshells. Except that he wouldn't dance with her if his wand was on the line.

She inwardly sighed as she slid into the seat next to her partner, smile still sitting on her features uncomfortably.

"Hi Emily, how's your first day at Hogwarts been?" Harry asked first, trying and failing to break the obvious tension between them.

"Oh it's been...great! I have a lot of catching up to do though." she admitted.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." That must have taken a lot for her ego to admit, was what he was really thinking.

"Hopefully."

But in midthought she stopped, the smile fell from her face and she turned her head toward the window situated directly behind her.

Harry noticed this and asked, confused, "Um, Emily? Are you ok? What are you looking at?"

Ron looked up from his place in front of the window, ignoring the shoe that was doing loop dee loops in front of him and at Emily's widening eyes. He followed her gaze to the window and back to her trying to figure out what had so effectively caught her attention.

Suddenly she swung her head back around to find a surprised boy with messy black hair who now looked worried for her sanity.

The girl swallowed hard and attempted a smile, "Nothing, nothing um I thought I saw an airplane and I was just...worried that it could see us..." she trailed off, seemingly light headed.

"Oh, they don't see the castle, if they're muggles then they just see an old factory with a keep out sign." he said, not convinced.

"I thought so, I just forgot for a moment and scared myself." she smiled, a bit more firmly now.

"Harry? Emily? Anything wrong?" asked Professor Flitwick from atop his stack of books placed in the middle of the classroom so he could see everyone.

"Oh, no Professor, everything's fine." assured Emily with another smile.

"No problems with the charm?"

'"No sir." she lifted her wand without looking away from him and flicked it quickly, sending her shoe somersaulting through the air.

"Excellent Miss Smith!" the teacher squeaked excitedly. "Five points to Gryffindor for such wonderful progress so soon!"

"Thank you Professor!" she beamed jovially, turning quickly back to Harry to give him the same expression. However, blank stares and suspicious glances were all she received from him for the rest of class.

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	8. Is There A Doctor In The House?

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

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** George sat at the bottom of the third floor stair case twirling his wand between thumb and index finger. He was waiting for his twin, Fred and his charge, Emily to meet him here. They had decided to meet every night an hour before dinner to go down to eat and make sure Emily was still in one piece. 

As George greeted a few passerby he mulled over his first day back and wondered how Emily's had gone. She was a cute kid, all full of curiosity and naive about the wizarding world. She'd be the perfect target for a prank if the two boys weren't such big softies.

Ok so that wasn't necessarily the reason. When they had been asked by Dumbledore to take care of her and were told about the circumstances they both knew they wouldn't have the heart to prank her just yet. Come on just because they were mischievous didn't mean they were heartless!

See, Fred and George wanted to start their own joke shop. Sure, they'd finish school for their mum's sake and for the sake of experimenting on unsuspecting first years. They had been working on items in semi-secret through the entire summer, coming up with things like fake wands and candy that enlarged tongues to up to five times their normal size. They had even come up with a few counter curses for these ingenious inventions.

Ok so there were some tweaks that needed to be worked out but it was ingenious nonetheless.

Not to mention they needed their mum to see them as _slightly_ responsible before they told her their idea. She would flip her lid if they had done it the way they had planned on doing it in the first place, which involved a net and a castle full of rubber chickens.

Don't get it wrong, they weren't playing bodyguard only for those reasons, they truly wanted to help the Order, but not being of age was posing a problem. This time though, they were in need of a person or people who attended Hogwarts and Fred and George fit the requirements.

George heard foot steps and turned to find Hermione supporting Emily so she wouldn't fall. George leapt up in a burst of adrenaline and ran to meet the two girls.

"What happened?" he said looking from Emily's slightly green face to Hermione's frightened one.

"I don't know!" Hermione said frantically, speaking fast. "I found her around the corner holding her head, she started babbling to herself and I thought maybe she was under someone's spell but before I could ask her if she was alright she collapsed. I was taking her to the Hospital Wing, George I'm so glad I found you I haven't seen anyone and I wasn't sure-"

"Hermione, calm down, everything'll be ok." George said, attempting calm. First day of school and his charge was already getting sick or cursed, all he needed now was a panicked genius to top everything off.

George transferred Emily from Hermione's supporting shoulder to his own as he gave the later instructions. "Hermione, go get Madam Pomfrey, tell her Dumbledore needs her in his office immediately." Hermione stood there in a strange shaky shock uncharacteristic to her. "Hermione! Go!" he yelled at her, starting off in the direction of Dumbledore's office. Hermione sped off, thinking it strange that she was taking orders from one of the twins and that that twin was being so...responsible. This war _was_ turning everything upside down.

George stumbled along the empty corridors towards the Headmaster's office, checking now and then to see if Emily's condition had worsened. The girl's face was now a light grey color, her eyes looked dull and she had sweat dabbled on her forehead. She mumbled incoherently every so often to no one it seemed. He had heard that she had gone to the Hospital Wing earlier, maybe this was a side effect of some potion she was given there? Maybe she was allergic to Amaranth juice and was hallucinating? George hoped it was that simple but had a feeling it was much more serious.

George finally reached the statue that guarded the Headmaster's office and gave it the password.

"Gummy bears." he panted.

"Gummy bears?" Emily murmured as George pulled her onto the spinning staircase. "I love gummy bears."

"Errr, me too Emily, what's your favorite kind?" he asked, not sure what these muggle treats were or if there were any different kinds, he just wanted to keep her talking.

"I don't like the clear ones." she said, voice trailing off.

"Me neither," George agreed, standing her up more, shaking her slightly in hopes of opening her drooping eyes. "I like the blue ones personally."

"Unfortunately," said a voice from the top of the stairs. "There are no such thing as blue gummy bears that I know of, Mr. Weasley."

As the two came in sight of the top of the revolving stairs, George saw Dumbledore in plum colored robes. His voice had seemed the same airy, almost whimsical voice that it always was but his eyes showed his determination and control over the situation.

"Quickly Mr. Weasley, I have already sent for your brother and Madam Pomfrey is on her way." Dumbledore said as he strode through the large doors to his office.

Dumbledore helped to lay Emily on his cleared off desk and flitted his wand over her a few times, but nothing happened. George wondered briefly how Dumbledore knew about so much that went on in this castle when Fred came in.

"Oi!" he yelled when he saw Emily who was now panting and rolling around violently, her face as white as a sheet. "What happened to her George!"

"I don't know, Hermione found her."

"It seems that she has been cursed Mr. Weasley." answered Dumbledore, eyes still trained on the shaking girl.

"Cursed!" cried Ms. Pomfrey, scrambling in with a few potions trailing through the air behind her.

"Yes, no need to worry Madam," he said, not looking up. "I am almost positive I know what it is and it was not brought on by anything you gave her." Madam Pomfrey seemed to relax a bit and a few worry lines disappeared from her brow.

"What is it then Professor?" asked the twins simultaneously.

"She's being possessed by something I believe." he said, flitting his wand over her again. She was slowing down in her tossing and her face was returning to a more normal color.

"By what?"

"By who?"

"How?"

"I am not certain with what she is being possessed, or who has done it, but I know that whoever did this had to know very powerful dark magic. Possessing is almost as forbidden as the three unforgivables." he stated to the three now pale people.

"Y-you mean-" said George.

"You couldn't possibly mean-" said Madam Pomfrey.

"Will she be all right Professor?" asked Fred.

"I do not think Voldemort himself did this, but one of his followers, perhaps. And she will be perfectly fine after a bit of rest." Dumbledore confirmed with one last wave of the wand before depositing it in his pocket.

"Now," he said, coming around the occupied desk to speak to them. "Have you noticed any unusual behavior in Miss Smith this afternoon? Any wish to speak of the Order perhaps?"

The twins shook their heads. "I haven't seen her since earlier this afternoon Professor, when she was in the Hospital Wing during her Potions class." informed the mediwitch.

"Very well Madam, you may go. Thank you for your help." he said, and watched Madam Pomfrey leave.

"We haven't seen her since Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she didn't really talk. The new teacher, Professor Umbridge, doesn't allow talking in her classroom." said George with a slight bitterness in his tone.

"Yeah you might want to ask Hermione or someone," said Fred." They had Charms with her for their last class, we couldn't find her after that, someone said she'd gone off to the library with Hermione right after class."

"How long do you think she's been possessed?" asked George.

"Only a few hours at the most, she started fighting whoever had her, that was why she looked so sick."

"Oh." they both said.

"I suppose you boys are now wondering what will happen. What if whoever did this tries to do it again? Do you two stay by her side constantly until this is all sorted out?" he had a strange twinkle in his eyes as the boys stood there. They knew it was a rhetorical question. "No, she will be sent away for a while. That way she can be taught at a better pace and recover."

"Will it really take that long for her to heal?" asked Fred, guilt thick in his voice.

"No, but we want to make sure, and it would be for the best that she go. Now why don't you two take Miss Smith to Professor McGonagall, she will be watching over her tonight so you two don't have to worry. Also, boys," he added as they walked to Emily, who was stirring. "This didn't happen because of any lack of protection. You two have done a fine job and I expect you to fill in these slots again as soon as she comes back.

The twins nodded and smiled, guilt lifting from their shoulders. They began walking Emily out of the office. She seemed to be in a strange daze where she followed them but didn't speak, didn't look at them, just seemed tired.

George stopped short before stepping onto the descending staircase.

"But where will she go sir?" asked George, confused. "Isn't Hogwarts the safest place she could be?"

"I will send her to be with family." was all Dumbledore would say.

The twins nodded and continued on their way to McGonagall's office. Emily was going to meet her father, Sirius Black.

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	9. Daddy Dear

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

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Emily stood in front of a dirty, worn house, a suitcase in one hand and her wand in the other. She knew that, if posed with a threat, the most she would do was scream and drop the piece of wood. Yet she somehow drew confidence from it's smooth handle.The girl tore her eyes from the house that hadn't been there just moments ago and set her suitcase gently on the ground to free her hand. She reached into her pocket and looked at the paper as though it were some more foreign object than a crumpled up piece of parchment with an address written on it. She shrugged a little, and when the paper suddenly burst into flames she yelped and dropped the ashes, scattering them with the wind. 

She calmed herself, grabbed her suitcase and walked slowly up the walkway and to the front door of 12 Grimmald place. She decided to pocket the wand and did so slowly as though this took too much effort. She realized she was breathing faster than normal and her palms were sweaty.

she thought. said her more reasonable side. screamed her irrational side. 

Somehow this thought broke through the others, and she threw her hand forward, causing her to knocked on the door suddenly and a bit louder than she had intended. For a split second she thought maybe she had the wrong house or that he wasn't home. Or maybe he left as soon as he found out I was coming. But she could only think about this for a second before the door was opened and Emily was starring into her own eyes.

"Omigosh."

he thought with an inward gulp. "Hello, you must be Emily." was what he heard himself say. 

"Yes, hello." she smiled weakly, obviously nervous.

"Come in, come in. Here, let me take your bags." he said, reaching for her suitcase. She let him take it and stepped into the entryway. She looked around curiously at the hallway. It had spiderwebs growing in every corner and pictures of scowling ancestors all over the walls. Behind her, her father winced in shame at the house he was forced to stay in and wished he had been able to clean it up some before she had arrived, after all, he had only been told she was coming the day before.

"Is this your house?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, well, through inheritance, not desire." he mumbled as he led her to her room. As they turned out of the entryway towards the stairway, Emily brushed against a cloth draped over the wall. A loose corner caused the black shade to fall to the floor revealing an aged woman looking livid in a large picture frame. Before Emily could ask who it was of the picture shrieked.

" DIRTIER OF MY BLOOD! SHAME ON THE FAMILY-" the picture stopped short when she saw Emily. It's eyes widened as it took a huge breath of air and started yelling. " BETRAYAL TO THE FLESH! SCUM! WORM OF THE EARTH! I DISOWN THEE FILTHY MUDBL-"

"Silencio!" yelled Sirius, silencing the witch instantly with his wand. He looked to Emily who looked more shaken and pale then when she had arrived.

"Wh- who is-s th-that?" she asked, stumbling over her words. She was still getting used to the idea of pictures being able to talk, not to mention one had never yelled or insulted her before.

"Your grandmother, unfortunately." he said glumly, hanging the drape back up and continuing towards the stairs.

"My grandmother?" Emily asked curiously. For some reason she had only thought of the father and mother that she had never had, the thought of a whole new family put her in awe. So many people that she could have passed on the street, never knowing that they were her second cousin or uncle.

"Don't get too excited." Sirius warned. "They definitely won't be when they find out about you." he thought to himself.

"What do you mean?" his daughter asked, following him up the stairs and to her bedroom.

"They aren't the nicest blighters I ever met." he admitted, opening a door and tossing her suitcase onto the four poster bed. "In fact, they're why we had to give you up in the first place."

Sirius paused, knowing he shouldn't have said that. It brought on an awkward silence as he got lost in thought, and Emily stared at his back, stone faced, waiting for anymore information.

"What?" she asked, trying to nudge it along faster. "What do you mean?"

Sirius broke out of his trance and turned quickly to her, a smile lit across his face. "Let's not talk about this right now, you just got here after all. Would you like something to drink?" he offered, trying to change the subject.

"Oh um, sure." Emily said, trying to return the smile.

"This way then." he said, and began to lead her down to the kitchen.

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Several days later, Sirius was giving Emily lessons in Defense against the Dark Arts, now one of Emily's favorite subjects.

"Expelliarmus!" She yelled, sending her father's wand shooting from his hand to her's.

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed. She smiled and tossed him his wand again. "Alright, since you've been doing so well, I'm going to teach you a spell that's a bit harder.

"I don't know..." she asked uncertainly.

"It's worth a try." he shrugged. "What I want you to do is think of a happy thought and say 'Expecto Patronum', got that?"

Emily nodded and began to search for a thought. She thought about that morning when they had had an eating contest with a woman named Tonks. Sirius had won but he had pieces of pancake and fruit in his hair, clothes, and between his teeth. Emily smiled and whispered, "Expecto Patronum." the very tip of her wand glowed a light grey but it extinguished in a second.

"Think of something else." Sirius prompted. "Something that brought you true joy."

Emily thought of her seventh birthday when she got her first bike but the thought of her parents brought on a tinge of sadness. She pushed that emotion from her mind. Happy, happy, happy. She thought. What about...

"Empecto Patronum." she said it a bit louder this time, thinking of finding a twenty dollar bill on the sidewalk. It was the last little bit that made her able to buy her parents their anniversary gift. A small wisp of white mist escaped from the tip of her wand and then vanished.

"Better, better. Think of something else and concentrate, don't forget that, relive the moment."

Emily thought hard. Happy? now she wasn't sure she could find a truly happy thought. Everything in her early life brought back the feeling of loss but everything recently hadn't caused her real joy.

She thought hard. She quickly ran through everything she could remember from the time she awoke at the Weasley's home until now, in her father's house, clutching a 10 inch long willow stick with powdered dragon scale in its core.

Then it hit her. It had happened that morning. She woke up in her room earlier than usual. She found herself staring into a sunbeam and had quickly closed her eyes. She sat up on her knees and tried pulling at the latches on the window. She loved the outside and she hadn't been out much lately, she missed the wind, the rain, the sun. She hadn't seen a beam of sunlight in this room yet and for some reason she was fascinated by this wandering rogue so brave as to enter 12 Grimmald Place.

Emily managed to unlock the latches with a spell the twins had taught her, 'Alohamora'. When she pulled back the curtains all the way and pushed back the glass, she was hit with a blinding yellow wall that quickly encompassed her in its warmth. She looked out and could see a nearby field that she hadn't known was there. She gazed in awe at this beautiful site, lush green grass flowing on for as far as she could see, covered with flowers of every hue, mixing and blending to make unimaginable colors that made her eyes glaze slightly in wonder of their loveliness. There were a few animals that she could see also, a few rabbits and a cat bounding around in the sunshine enjoying themselves.

Emily watched theses and the flowers that seemed to ebb and flow in the warm breeze, feeling her eyes droop. She wasn't sure if that was joy. She wasn't quite sure she had felt anything while gazing at that scene. It was more of a contentment that she hadn't felt in a long time as she forgot her troubles and basked in the glory of nature.

Emily kept her eyes closed, feeling the warm sun kissing her cheeks and the wind whispering in her ears.

"Expecto Patronum." she said, her voice quiet but sure.

The white mist was back, flowing from the tip of her wand and growing, swirling in front of her in an undetermined shape. Emily watched it as it stopped growing and now shrunk and moved as it formed something. Sirius hadn't told her what this spell did. Was it going to form into a monster? Was it going to be a person? Was it going to be a weapon? Was it just going to swirl there and confuse her?

These thoughts stopped thought as the mist began to form something recognizable.

A few more seconds and Emily was staring at a large owl. Emily's eyes were wide.

"Uh-um, er." she stuttered, still not sure what she should call her father.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you. It's your Patronus." Sirius explained.

"My what?"

"Your Patronus. Everyone has one, it represents something they love usually. Patronus' are good to have around when fighting dementors, they're the only thing a defector can't stand."

"Oh." she said, watching the patroness, not thinking to ask what a defector was. She had heard the term several times but had never figured out exactly what they were. It stared at her wide eyed and then swivelled its head around to look at Sirius.

"I guess there'd be no use in getting you an owl then." he laughed. "These things can also be used to send messages to people. The message cannot be altered or stopped by walls or magic, and since everyone has a different Patroness you can't duplicate it." he smiled, proud of her progress.

"What is your Patroness?"

"A tigress." he stated, his voice suddenly ringing with an odd crispness.

"Oh? How are you so sure it's a girl?" she probed.

There was a pause. "I like the tigress more than the male tiger, they don't interest me as much." he said a little stiffly as if he were lying.

"Oh." she said, defeated. What more could she ask?

"Well I think that's enough for today, you can get some rest, I'm going to go check on dinner." he announced, walking towards the door.

"Alright." she consented. He opened the door and she thought that she saw him pause for a moment as though he thought of turning back around, and then he left, shutting the door again behind him. It happened so fast though that she was sure it was her imagination, and she lay down on her bed to think.

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	10. Victoria Anne Hodges

**I still do not own Harry Potter.**

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Halloween had passed and there was still no sign of Emily going back to Hogwarts. Not that she was unhappy spending time with her biological father. There just always seemed to be something lurking just below the surface of their conversations and Emily wanted to know what it was. She had a hunch it was about her mother, of whom she had heard nothing of so far.

Emily had met many people from the Order, Tonks, who she found out could change her physical features however she wanted, Remus Lupin, a werewolf, exHogwarts teacher, and an old friend of her father's from their school days. She tried to call him Professor Lupin or Mr. Lupin but he continued to insist that she call him Remus for some reason. He was teaching her from her textbooks what her father couldn't explain. She had learned a lot of from both of them though and couldn't say who was the better teacher.

Professor Severus Snape was another teacher they had teach her every so often, mostly on weekends because he didn't have classes. Emily soon found these sessions very trying since he seemed to loath her existence. She couldn't tell why since she was so eager to understand the subject, but she never caught so much as a kind smirk from him, only his quick, sharp tongue. She wondered if he didn't like inadequacy and she had made a bad first impression on her first day at school but Sirius informed her it was no such thing.

"The man's got it out for the Marauders." he growled, speaking of the group of him and his school friends. "Ever since school we've been enemies, and I trust him as much as he uses shampoo." he growled after one of Snape's visits. "If any of us knew a lick as much about potions as he did then I'd get you a different tutor, but he's all we've got unfortunately and Dumbledore insists on not letting you fall farther behind than you already are." he talked more to himself at these times it seemed than to her.

Emily had also seen Arthur and Molly Weasley, who brought with them a truck load of food and goodies every time they came, as though they thought the two occupants of the Blacks' House were being starved. Mr. Weasley always quizzed her on gadgets like televisions and toasters and how they worked, while Mrs. Weasely always fussed over their food, clothing and living quarters.

"I swear that beast is planting these spider webs." she would mumble as she tried to clean the house again. Sometimes Emily thought the same thing. She had learned to put nothing past the house elf Kreacher, since he was always popping up in unexpected places and trying to sabotage dinners and things.

Emily had met other people like Kingsley Shacklebolt too. All of these people were in a thing called The Order of the Pheonix and they were constantly coming and going, having meetings, being sent on secret assignments. Emily wasn't allowed to know what went on most of the time and she was sure that some of their conversations were about her.

After a while she started to get tired of it, all of the secrecy and lack of answers. Maybe that was what caused her to bring up the subject of her mother.

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Emily descended the stairs into diningroom one night, determined to go to sleep with some answers. Sirius Black was sitting in a high backed arm chair staring at the fire. Whether in deep thought or hypnotized by the dancing light she did not know.

He looked up as she approached, showing her he was tired. She smiled and sat down on a stool next to him.

"What are you doing down here so late?" he asked, sounding ready for sleep.

"I just wanted to talk a little bit, I'm not that tired."

"Really?" he yawned. "I am." he yawned again. "So," he said after a pause. "what do you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know." There was another pause. He sensed he wouldn't like this conversation.

After a moment she finally said. "Tell me about my mother."

Sirius paused. He thought about declining but realized he hadn't been asked a question. He thought about delaying this until another time when he was more awake but as he gazed at her profile, outlined by the flames he knew he couldn't do it. Avoiding it would only make it harder next time. Merlin knows he had been thinking about telling her but everytime he thought to he decided he would try at a different time when he was more awake, when he wasn't so hungry, when he was more used to the idea. He nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him but at the fire.

"Victoria Anne Hodges. I met her my last year of school." he started, watching his daughter, maybe to convince himself to keep talking, maybe to search for a reaction, he wasn't sure. "I had met a lot of girls, had a couple girlfriends but she seemed..." he searched for the right word. "More intriguing." he nodded, liking the word.

"It was mutual, something about being together, it was almost addicting. Soon we were graduating and we decided to see each other after Hogwarts."

He almost chuckled. "It's strange how we all measure our time by Hogwarts. I've never heard anyone from any other magical school measure their lives by their's. Maybe that's because Hogwarts isn't any other school. Maybe because for me...there was only Hogwarts. It's as if there is no 'last week', no 'month ago', just...when I was at Hogwarts and when I was out..." he sobered a little. having gotten off subject.

"Then again, there wasn't really 'a decade ago' or 'a couple of years back' for me." He wasn't looking at Emily anymore but had lost himself in the magic of the fire, reminding her of campfires and ghost stories, causing her to shiver a little.

Emily gazed at her father's face, he was so serious that she couldn't speak for fear of having him stop and never restart. She waited for him to get back on track.

"I don't know, maybe we all do it." he paused for a moment and Emily was afraid he wouldn't start again.

He took a bit of a shaky breath. "You look a lot like her you know. You have my ears though, as strange as that may sound, but you do. Your eyes are also mine, but everything else is your mothers. She had strawberry blonde hair and the most beautiful brown eyes...I guess I was always a sucker for brown eyes. You laugh like she does. The first time I heard it it sent chills down my spine. And her hair always smelled like watermelon which was strange. Strawberry hair scented like watermelons." he smiled as though remembering an old joke.

"We saw each other a lot. I wasn't sure what I wanted to be, hadn't thought about it much while in school, but she wanted to be a mediwitch. She was great too, came up with a couple of new healing charms and wards. She was one of the most interesting people I ever met. When we talked I was always trying to figure out what made her go, what made her so...her. But I couldn't find it."

"I think she did the same thing to me and for some reason never found it. See Emily," he said, acknowledging his audience by name for the first time. "Some people run on sadness, some on lies, some on secrets, some on the unknown. Everybody has something that they are always searching for. Something that makes them content, that makes their lives interesting. Some answer that they want above all, and I found that my answer was her." he sighed.

"We figured out that we were in love and got married. We never thought we could be happier, until you were born. That was one of the happiest days of my life." he said, now looking at her, smiling.

Emily could feel herself choking up. Her adoptive parents had never told her stories like this with so much emotion, probably because they had to make up half of it as they went along.

"But," he said, suddenly changing from happy to quiet he said. "I had been keeping her a secret. James knew, Remus knew," he paused and the next words came out as a hiss. "Peter knew."

"I wanted to keep her a secret, I was afraid of what my family would do if they found out. She was a pureblood but we were both blood traitors. Her family didn't mind but I knew, I knew my family would. Voldemort was in power, and my family obviously had close ties to him. I was afraid if they knew about her, about you, then they would come after us."

Emily was silent, the story her father was telling playing out in front of her eyes as though on a movie reel. She was frightened suddenly. She had never found out exactly what had happened to her mother, and suddenly she didn't want to.

"She was worried of course. Not for herself though. No, she was worried about you and about me. We thought about going under the Fidelius charm but one thing after another kept happening and we just kept going into hiding. Then, our neighbors were attacked. Dumbledore was sure the attack had been meant for us, that the Muggles' home had been a mistake, and we believed him."

"The attack didn't have the Dark Mark though. This was a separate attack, apart from Voldemort. This was a personal attack. It was my family. They had found me. They had gained enough power to try to wipe out their bloodtraitor relatives. We weren't the only ones. Arthur and Molly's home was attacked, so was Tonk's. My Uncle was found dead. And we didn't want you to be next."

"So we put you in the care of Mark and Josephine Victors. Those were their real names, they were known by muggles as Anthony and Christine Smith." Emily recognized the names and her mental movie reel flashed pictures of her parents. "Hagrid took you to them, you haven't really met him but you were in his care for a while as we got everything sorted out with Dumbledore. He lived on school grounds and was one of the last people my family would have suspected. And then..."

He went silent, his mouth was a firm line, his eyes full of sadness and anger.

"What happened?" Emily whispered, unable to restrain herself in the intense silence.

Her father turned to her, as though realizing she was there, and then looked back at the fire.

"We were saying our goodbyes before the Victors took you. Dumbledore agreed that it was for the best and had placed them under the Fidelius Charm, along with the Potters." his fists clenched. "I should have known then and there that he was a traitor." his teeth ground together. "I should have seen he was scum."

"Who Dad?"

No answer.

"Who?"

"Peter." his voice wavered. "He told my family where we were. We hadn't had time to perform the Charm. And they found us." he choked out.

He stood up and walked over to the cupboards, yanking one open. There was a bowl with swirling silver light dancing in it. He beckoned Emily with a gesture and she was quickly by his side.

Emily gasped a little as the silvery liquid took her in. She hit the ground hard and looked around for her father. Then she saw them.

She saw a woman with her hair.

Her mother.

Victoria Anne Black was in her husband's arms. He was trying to comfort her, but she was crying. Emily couldn't help but thinking how beautiful she was, even with her eyes red and puffy.

All of a sudden there was a crashing noise, but she couldn't hear it, just feel it. She saw her parents' surprised looks, the flash of red light, and then purple, and then green. She was being carried away from the scene, her father and mother sending curses at some unknown people. Her mother stumble, a surprised look on her face, and then she dropped to her knees. There was a burst of blue light and Emily knew the attackers were gone. She was farther away, and now her father was holding his wife, crying.

"Victoria, I'm sorry." Sirius whispered when Emily felt the hard wood floor under her feet again. She let out a sob. The same faces that had haunted her all her life flashed in front of her eyes: a black haired man with dark eyes, a giant covered in fur. But this time there was another face : a woman with strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes.

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	11. Going Back

**I am sorry for the HUGE delay. I think I will get better now that the summer is closer and my work load is lighter. I hope you all enjoy this and give me some feedback, good or bad I don't mind, it all helps me become better! Thank you!**

**Author's Note: If you have read all of this story before May 28, 2007, you might want to review the last chapter, there were a few things I tweaked in Emily's conversation with her father.**

**I still do not own Harry Potter.**

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After their midnight conversation, Emily's relationship with Sirius started to take off. They became closer, the shadow over their conversations were gone. Unfortunately, less than a week later Dumbledore informed them she was to come back to Hogwarts. 

Dumbledore refused to let Sirius take her, so Emily said goodbye to her newly found father and left with Kingsley Shacklebolt, Apparating outside of Hogwarts and riding the rest of the way in a carriage.

It was dark, Dumbledore felt that was the safest and quietest way to get her back to school. As Kingsley led her to the picture of the old lady Emily realized that she had missed the old castle. Even though she hadn't been there for long she had grown to love it. Her house next to Privet Drive was not home, even though her father was there she could never call Grimmald Place home and she was only a guest at the Weasley's house. Hogwarts was her home.

"Miffler Nugget." Kingsley whispered to the surprisingly alert lady in the portrait.

"About time, I was told I couldn't sleep until you got here." She swung forward, revealing the portrait hole and the Gryffindor common room behind it.

Kingsley bid her a farewell and made sure the portrait door shut tightly behind her.

As soon as the portrait door closed, Emily heard a yell and was tackled from behind. She laughed as George gave her a noogy and the twins welcomed her back.

"Oi! It's been ages!" exclaimed George.

"We were starting to wonder if you'd ever come back." Fred smiled.

"How could I stay away from you two for too long?" she laughed, smoothing her hair from the noogy.

"We've got something for you." Fred announced.

They went over to the big couch in front of the fire and sat.

"Happy Christmas!" they said in unison, handing her two brown paper cover packages.

Emily set them down gently and stared at the objects, making no move to open them.

"What are they?" she asked.

"You have to open them to find out."

"Isn't that the point of us wrapping them?"

She remained motionless.

"What?!" Fred exclaimed.

"I don't trust you two."

They were both offended.

"How am I supposed to know I won't turn into a chicken if I open these?"

"Because we wouldn't do that to you." George explained.

"At least I wouldn't." Fred stated.

George turned to him, mouth open to defend himself.

"Besides," Fred continued. "We haven't figured out how to turn people into chickens yet."

George nodded in agreement. Emily wasn't convinced. She folded her arms in front of her.

"I promise nothing will happen." Fred said. "I promise my entire savings."

"Which is a lot." George informed her.

Emily knew the twins didn't bet money unless they were sure they wouldn't lose. Satisfied, she pulled one of the boxes into her lap and began tearing at the paper.

"That one's from me." George smiled.

Inside the many layers of paper and string lay a box, which contained a box in a box. When Emily finally got to the center of it all she found a note.

_Open other box. _It said.

Emily sighed and began opening the other one. Several boxes later she found what looked like a vial of perfume.

"It's essence of Veritaserum." George told her.

"You use it like perfume, dab it on and for half an hour everyone around you can't help but tell the truth."

"Cool! Should I try it out?" she smiled mishchievously.

The smiled vanished from their faces as they thought of everything she could find out about them. Fred seemed a little paler than George and visibly gulped.

"Not fair!" George protested. Emily laughed and pretend to begin to open the vial.

The two jumped at her, grabbing for the vial. She laughed, and when the twins realized she was joking they laughed with her. They spent the rest of their night talking catching each other up. Emily told them about getting to know her father and the twins told her about the evil Umbridge's attempts at taking over.

"And the worst part is that people actually agree with her!" George ranted. "Parents are writing in saying they think she's doing a great job and of course all of the Slytherins are on her side, hoping she kicks out Dumbledore. Nobody gets to complain or they'll be punished and no one can complain to their parents because all of the mail is being read."

"That's why you can't write to Sirius about anything specific, Emily." Fred told her. "You can refer to him by some other name and don't ask any questions about the Order or him. If Umbridge caught a whiff of anything suspicious she would probably attack you like she has Harry, if not worse."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, confused.

"He's had a lot of her detentions and she's tried to drug him with Truth Serum." George said.

"What is so bad about her detentions?"

"She has him basically carve sentences into the back of his hand." Fred said. They explained what they knew about the detentions. and the quill that carved what you wrote into your flesh, scarring you.

"And no one will stop her? Is there no law saying she can't do that?" Emily asked.

"If there is she and the Ministry are ignoring it." George said.

Emily gulped. What had Dumbledore brought her back to?

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Emily was extremely cautious through out her classes, even more so in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Unfortunately Umbridge took notice of her long absence and questioned her periodically about it. 

"Did you have a nice little vacation Miss Smith?" she asked on her first day back.

"Yes, Madam."

"May I ask what kept you from this fine establishment for such an extended period of time?" she asked, a sickly sweet smile spread across her toady face.

"It is kind of personal Ma'am." she said. Umbridge frowned and waddled back to her desk, disappointed. Emily hid a sigh behind her book and the twins gave her identical thumbs up for a job well done.

Umbridge turned abrupty around and the thumbs disappeared. She narrowed her eyes at the three of them, suspicious. Emily tried to pretend to be focused on her reading of Vampires but was overwhelmed by the searching eyes of Umbridge watching her for the rest of the class.

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None of her others seemed to mind her being gone for so long, though McGonagall warned that she would need to do a lot of extra studying to keep up, as if she hadn't stopped in on several sessions of Lupin tutoring her to give Transfiguration tips. 

Emily could see that the school was divided into two groups. One was Umbridge and her group of Slytherin students she adored, the other was the rest of the school. It seemed that the students only put up with her because they were afraid of what she might do to them and Emily had the distinct feeling that the teachers only put up with her because Dumbldore had told them to.

Everything seemed to get worse and worse. Dumbledore disappeared in the middle of the night and Umbridge soon became High Inquisitor of the school. She had rules piled onto the students in an attempt to keep order and carry out her agenda, whatever that might be.

Though Emily tried to keep her head down, Umbridge managed to make excuses to get her into her classroom after hours and interigate her. One night she had Emily scrubbing desks for four hours.

"Now Emily, I'm curious, what was the cause of your absence for so long?" Umbridge began.

"It is a very personal matter Professor, I just don't feel comfortable sharing any of the details." Emily replied, trying to deflect the questions.

Umbridge paused, approaching from a different angle. "My dear, I must tell you that I have been deeply concerned about you lately. From what I understand you left because of some medical problems?"

Emily hardly considered being possessed a medical problem.

"It seems that whomever you stayed with was able to heal you of these ailments. I am just afraid that the symptoms may come back and I want to perhaps discuss the cure with them in case ." she smiled with fake concern.

Emily smiled, pretending to appreciate the worry. "Professor, Dumbledore healed me before I left. If you'd like to know how he did it, you should talk to him."

Umbridge was silent. The Ministry had no idea where Dumbledore had run to. He was a wanted man now and probably had no intention of telling them where he was. Rubbing this fact in the High Inquisitor's face only made her mad.

Umbridge looked down at one of the desk tops.

"These desks are still filthy. Detention is meant to teach you a lesson for breaking the rules and I refuse to let you slack off, rewash them all." she commanded, going to her desk and absorbing herself in some sort of paperwork.

Emily held in a sigh and looked at the rows of desks. She had been on number forty-five of fifty, using three different steps of noxious smelling potions to clean the desks. This was going to be a long night.

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	12. Surprises

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

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'No pain no gain'

'Keep your eye on the prize'

'Every cloud has a silver lining'

Emily was sure that her father wrote these horrible cliches in their letters just to annoy her. The Umbridge situation had become nearly unbearable. The Slytherins had managed to get themselves appointed as Umbridge's own group of thugs. They rubbed their horribly shiny badges in people's faces, sneering as they enforced rules in order to get revenge on their enemies.

The twins were having the hardest time. Their brooms had been taken away and locked up by Umbridge, who was constantly after their inventions. They barely managed to escape detentions with her: McGonagall had them in 'detentions' almost everyday and she refused to allow Umbridge to try and take the twins from her.

She would glare at Umbridge and tell all of the gruesome details of the detentions she planned for the boys, when in reality they never actually attended, nor were they expected to. Umbridge, however, was satisfied, thinking they were under the cruel rule of their Transfiguration teacher acting as guinea pigs for new spells instead of playing exploding snaps with Emily.

Despite this break that McGonagall gave them, they soon announced to Emily their plans for leaving.

"What?!" Emily yelled in the middle of the empty hallway. Both twins threw their hands over her mouth in an attempt to quiet her. They looked quickly up and down the deserted hall and then back at her.

"Come on Emily, don't give it away quite yet." George said, taking his hands off of her mouth.

Fred's hand still pressed against her lips. "Promise to whisper?" he asked.

Emily nodded. His hand was soft and she could smell something on him. She wondered if it was cologne. He pulled away and she was a little sad when his scent went with him.

"Why?" Emily said in her normal volume.

"You've seen what that toad has been doing to this school!" George exclaimed.

"Besides, we only came back for our mum's sake. We don't actually _need_ to complete this year." Fred added.

"We found a place to set up shop!" George finished.

"Where? Why didn't you tell me?" she said, surprised at this bit of news.

"Diagon Alley"

"It just never came up."

Emily glared at them. "That is your excuse for _everything_."

"Come on! Don't be difficult!" George said, exasperated.

"And what am I supposed to do? Aren't you two supposed to be my bodyguards?"

"We think that you are more than capable to take care of yourself now." Fred smiled.

"You're kidding, right? Just the other day I nearly fell down a flight of stairs!"

"But only when you were surprised by one of our inventions," George rationalized. "See, you're probably safer without us." he smiled.

"So you're just going to leave me here to deal with Umbridge by myself?" she was deeply offended, her two best friends were abandoning her!

"She'll probably ignore you once we're gone. You stay out of trouble pretty well, just keep it up."

"Whatever." she said, knowing they would win, even if they didn't convince her.

"Ok," George said, not convinced that the conversation was over. "I've gotta go see Professor Flitwick, I'll meet you guys back up in the common room later."

Emily didn't look at George as he left but when Fred began to walk she followed, not responding to his attempts at conversation.

"We won't tell you to much, in case Umbridge interrogates you. Besides, it'll be more fun if you're surprised." he smiled over at her, excited. Her eyes continued to trace the wall as they walked, a scowl across her features.

"Are you going to refuse to talk to us until we leave?!" he asked, frustrated.

"Does it matter?" she asked, breaking her silence. "Apparently my conversation doesn't mean much to you, if you're so eager to leave!" she answered bitterly.

"That isn't fair!" he said, angry. He grabbed her arm and turning her, forcing her to look at him.

For reasons she couldn't explain, her pulse skyrocketed when he grabbed her arm . He was close enough for her to smell his cologne again and she felt her anger slipping away as it invaded her nose. She shook herself, trying to clear her head and remember why she was mad.

"You think I _want_ to leave you here?" he asked, almost incredually.

"I don't know Fred, that's sure what it looks like." she said, the hurt showing in her eyes.

"Emily, we would take you with us if we could but you're safer here. Even if Umbridge is evil she is still against Voldemort."

"She doesn't even believe that he is back Fred, she isn't taking any precautions-"

"Yeah but taking you away from Hogwarts would still be putting you in more danger. You have people here that can help you. I also asked Harry to let you into the D.A."

"Great, I have to beg to be let in." Harry hated her, though she had no idea why. He hadn't allowed her into the D.A., ignoring her requests.

"So you're leaving me in the hands of the boy that hates me more than he hates his muggle family?"

"I doubt he hates you _that_ much." he smiled.

She didn't smile.

"We've had almost an entire schooling here, but this is still your first. There is still a lot that you need to learn that me and George can't teach you."

Emily broke eye contact, knowing he was right.

"I would have you come with me if I could." he offered.

"'I'? What, does George not want me coming." she said, pointing out that he had been saying 'I' instead of 'we.'

"Oh." he said dumbly, realizing what he had said. "I didn't mean-uh-George would too." he stuttered.

Emily looked at him curiously. She had never heard either of the twins stutter like this. They were usually so confident, but Fred looked like she had caught him off guard.

Emily leaned in curiously. "Are you _lying_ to me Fred?" she asked incredually, getting offended.

"No!" he said, surprised at her assumption. "No, Emily! I just..." he trailed off and something passed over his eyes as he made a decision. She realized that Fred was still holding onto her arm.

He quickly leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips.

It was only for a second, yet for Emily everything seemed to slow down to a crawl. When he pulled back his eyes searched her face for a reaction.

"I'll miss you Emily." he smiled, seeing her surprise. Not a bad surprised, he noted.

She didn't say anything. Even if she could come up with something intelligent to say she didn't think she could form any understandable sentences. They walked on in a silence that was strangely comfortable and when Emily finally found herself again she found that she was sad.

Now it would be even harder watching them leave

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	13. Breathless

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**Enjoy!**

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The preparations for the twin's departure continued for the next few weeks. Like they had said, they didn't tell her much and the long hours they spent whispering to each other often left Emily feeling like they were already gone.

That was, except for when her and Fred went walking.

Sometimes they walked inside, sometimes around the grounds. Sometimes they went during the day, other times at night. It didn't matter where or when they walked, just that they did. The walks had started as an excuse for Emily to talk to Fred in private. George didn't know about their kiss and Emily wanted to ask Fred what he had meant by it.

By the end of their first walk, she had her answer: another kiss.

Emily found it strange that she could be falling for one twin and not the other, but she was.

Every walk caused happiness to shoot through her veins, and yet every time they walked she would leave feeling emptier than before, knowing it wouldn't last long.

One night she couldn't take their whispering anymore and announced to the twins that she was going to go to the library.

Two identical pairs of eyes followed her path out the portrait hole, wondering if they dare follow their charge.

It wasn't often that Emily ventured out alone. Being possessed within her first day of Hogwarts had scared her enough to keep her glued to the twins most of the time. Yet every once in a while she had to get away from them to think, and seeing as she was falling faster and faster for Fred, she was finding it harder and harder to think straight around the two of them.

She made it to the library as the sun sunk down on the horizon, leaving nothing more than a warm glow in the large windows throughout the library. She made her way through the aisles and aisles of bookshelves, looking for an empty one to hide herself in.

She finally found a deserted aisle tucked into the corner of the large room. Emily could tell that no one, not even Madam Pince, wandered to this portion of the library often, since the books were covered in thick layers of dust. She leaned against a dusty wall, sighing. She glanced down the row of books once more, checking that she really was alone. Satisfied, she slid along the wall onto the ground, kicking up enormous amounts of dust into the air.

The dust filled her lungs and Emily coughed violently as her lungs tried to clear themselves.

Emily paused, midcough and looked down the aisle. She thought she has heard someone coughing along with her. The dust filled her eyes and she continued to cough until she was breathing normally again.

Emily looked down the aisle again, sure that she had heard someone. She got up and walked to the end of the aisle slowly, wondering if there was someone in another aisle she hadn't seen.

She looked at the rows and rows of bookshelves that stretched endlessly from her hide-a-way, but didn't see a soul. Satisfied, she turned back into her aisle.

And ran straight into Draco Malfoy.

She stumbled backwards, trying to back away and keep her balance at the same time. The pale boy grabbed her wrist and swung her around into a wall, throwing dust into the air.

She tried breaking his grip but found him much stronger than she would have ever expected.

He brought out his wand from a robe pocket. "Silencio." he muttered in a dangerous voice.

Immediately the words that had been forming in Emily's throat disappeared. She started to panic. What did Malfoy want? Did this have to do with his father's connections to Voldemort? What was he going to do to her?

Malfoy placed his wand across her throat. "Don't think that the Dark Lord doesn't know you are here." he whispered, his face uncomfortably close to her's.

"You are being watched, and it is only a matter of time before he comes for you." he hissed.

Emily's heart pounded painfully in her chest and her breathe became ragged as if she had been running for hours.

"He wants you to know that it doesn't matter how many try to protect you, he will kill them _all_. He will show you what happens to blood traitors, he will do to you the same thing that he did to those mudbloods who raised you, and you will experience first hand exactly how your filthy mother died.

Emily fought against his grip, but to no avail. Why had she been stupid enough to wander away from Fred and George?

"If you tell anyone about this." Malfoy said, his voice becoming so low she could barely hear him.

"We will kill those Weasley mutts that you follow around." he let go of her wrist and flicked his wand, returning her voice to her. Her eyes, that had grown to the size of dinner plates, watched him disappear around a corner as she wondering what she was going to do.

She bolted back to the common room, ignoring the pain in her wrist.

She now, more than ever, needed the twins to stay at Hogwarts. However, she knew that if she told them to stay they would need an explanation and telling them could only cause them harm from Malfoy and whoever "we" were.

She had always thought of Malfoy as a Death Eater wannabe. From what she had heard from anyone and seen during classes, Malfoy only rode on his father's coat tails when it came to people thinking he was evil. But she had never seen so much hate in a person's eyes and having them directed at her was more than unnerving.

She found herself looking over her shoulder everytime she turned a corner, feeling invisible eyes on her back with every hurried steps.

When she finally threw herself through the portrait hole and into the warm glow of the roaring fire she was gasping for air like a fish on the floor of a boat. She sank down onto the floor, trying to stop her head from spinning with lack of oxygen when she saw the legs of the two people who were on the top of her _avoid_ and _must see_ lists.

"Emily?!" said Fred's panicky voice. His face came into view as he knelt down to her.

"What happened?!" George said, equally worried.

Emily stared at the two of them. "Playing...tag..." she panted. With that she stood up shakily and made her way up to her dormitory, wanting to avoid any further questions. Even if Malfoy had been bluffing, she refused to risk her two best friends' lives.

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	14. Flying

Maybe it was the paranoia that filled her every thought for the next month. Or perhaps how Fred and George seemed closer and closer to leaving. Whatever it might have been, the days flew by faster than Emily would have liked. She wanted the twins to stick around for her benefit, but she also felt like they would be in more danger outside of Hogwarts, Emily didn't dare mention Draco's threats to anyone. She knew they would treat it lightly. Most people saw Draco as a joke riding on his dad's dark coat tails. Not any real threat. She could just imagine the confrontation with Malfoy, followed by a letter to his father and the twins being placed on the Death Eater's 'list'.

It was a Tuesday in late winter when the twins completed their plans. She could feel it in the air the few times that she talked with them. It was that strange electricity that always charged the atmosphere right before one of their big stunts. Emily pretended not to notice, but knew she was becoming more melancholy by the day.

She woke up every day wondering if today was the day they would leave. Every time she saw them she tried to memorize their features. What if something happened to when they left the protection of Hogwarts? Would this be the last time she ever saw them?

It was a Thursday when Fred invited her out to the Quidditch pitch. At first she thought that he wanted her to watch the team practice, but Fred was the only one there when she walked onto the field.

"Hey Emily! What took you so long!?" Fred smiled, flying over on his broom.

"Sorry! I had to convince Hermione that I'd be fine wandering around Hogwarts on my own. Every since the DA started Umbridge has been making up excuses to get me into detention."

"But you aren't even a member!" Fred said, surprised. He grabbed her hand and examined the back of it. The wound was somewhat new, still scabby and rough, but clearly said "I will not support illegal activities."

The more outspoken of the Weasley twins was quiet for a long time. He stared at her hand, running his cold milk-colored fingers over the raised surface. Emily watched for a while and then secretly began watching Fred out of the corner of her eye. It was obvious he hadn't known about her biweekly sessions with Umbridge. He might as well have been gone. She realized in that moment just how lonely she'd been. The DA all supported one another, but Harry had refused to answer any questions about Emily joining. Of course the Boy Who Lived couldn't be an outright jerk, instead he pretended not to hear or 'forgot' about any requests to let her in. After a while she got the hint and gave up. Umbridge's interrogations managed just rubbed the whole DA thing in her face.

Hermione had started to notice Emily's regular absence from the common room and had approached her with the bowl of strange potion that soothed her aching right hand. Emily had also started talking more with Neville, who suddenly found himself surrounded by friends from the DA, and who had also noticed her new and forgotten status.

She could see the guilt in Fred's eyes. Did he still think their big escape was worth it? Could she somehow convince them to stay? She doubted it. They had been working for so long on this project, it would be a shame to waste it.

She felt a cold anger build up in her chest. Colder than the snow that had settled on the grounds. Colder than the wind that made her fingers go numb. Weren't they supposed to be friends? Why was Fred being so selfish?

She cleared her throat, bringing him out of his thoughts. Pulling her hand out of his, she folded her arms tightly across her chest.

"It's a little cold. Why am I out here again?"

Fred smiled broadly. "I'm going to take you flying."

"No you're not." she said tersely, having realized this was a possibility. "It's against the rules."

"That's the point, isn't it?" his smile grew even wider.

"I don't like heights." she didn't smile.

His smile faded a little. "Well if you're going to be that way." he climbed onto his broom and kicked off, flying until he was too high for her to make out. She didn't wait long to see what he would do. It was cold and the wind was picking up as the sun sank further into the horizon. Emily quickly turned on her heels and began stomping through her own snowy footprints that she'd made on her way from the castle.

The wind covered the sounds of his speeding broomstick coming towards her. It wasn't until she was on the broom and barreling higher and higher into the icy air that she had even realized what he'd done. She would have screamed, but her lungs were paralyzed. In fact, Fred seemed to have hit her body's off switch, because nothing of her's was working.

She was sitting in front of Fred, his hand so loose around her middle that she was counting the seconds until she fell to her death. Her knuckles were white and clutched tightly around the handle of the broomstick. Soon it was going to snap in half, the terrifying cold around her pulling and shoving the two of them around. Emily knew that Fred must have lost control. They flipped several times, painful tears being forced out of her eyes by shards of ice hitting her face. Now they were falling sharply, the ground below coming in fast.

Right before impact, Fred pulled up and landed softly on the ground. Emily, who had wrapped her legs as far around the broom as she could, fell onto the ground in a soggy heap. Fred took a minute to laugh while Emily recovered. When he finally reached down to help her up, she roughly shoved his hand away and stumbled to her feet.

"FRED!" It came out in a terrified shriek.

He stopped short. "Emily...."

"FRED!" she screamed again. She let out a stream of profanities and began stalking off the field. He stood still, completely shocked by this reaction. Emily had gotten halfway to the castle when he caught up with her.

He tried running alongside her. She refused to look at him. "Emily, I'm sorry I-"

Emily turned on him, livid. "No, _Fred_. You're not _sorry_!" she yelled, her voice hoarse from the wind. "You're never _sorry_! Not Fred Weasley. He doesn't have an apologetic bone in his body!"

Fred didn't say anything. Emily had stopped walking and Fred was sure he was about to get hit _very_ hard.

"How DARE you Fred. How dare you! I have had to deal with your crap for _months_. Do you know what it feels like to be completely ignored by your best friends! Do you know what its like to have a guy snog you every other day and then follow it with a reminder that he'll be _leaving_! Leaving because he's _bored._ Because he's outgrown _everything_ here?! Including me!" Her lungs were finally working again, and she took deep gulps of air between sentences.

"I haven't talked to you in _days_ Fred. You didn't even know that Umbridge was making me carve my own hand up! You're either at the DA or plotting to get as far away from me as possible!"

"Emily that isn't true---"

"SHUT UP!" she bellowed, very hot now. "You think you can ignore me for this long and still expect me to laugh off your stupid pranks! I'm terrified of heights! But that doesn't matter to you. Nothing matters if it will stop you from getting your way."

"I didn't know." he said quietly.

"You should have known Fred. Maybe if you had talked to me sometime since _Christmas_. Maybe if we'd done more than run around and snog." Her face was wet with tears and her nose was dripping badly.

Emily wiped her face quickly with her robe. "You can't treat people like this Fred."

Fred continued to stare at her, dumbfounded. She turned and continued on to the castle. When she made it to the giant doors she turned around and saw Fred a ways off. "Go ahead and leave, Fred." she called to him. "Start your joke shop, abandon the rest of us to Umbridge. Leave me alone. I don't want any owls. And don't involve me in any of your future schemes, I've had enough torture sessions on your account."

She left him there, but didn't go to the common room for a long time. She waited until her face didn't sting with tears. Her front was stained with snot, so she faced away from the few stragglers sitting in front of the roaring fireplace as she jogged to the girls' staircase. By the time she would feel guilty enough to apologize for the things she'd said, it would be too late.


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